WEED. 



among tillage-crops, on fome lands, efpecially in moift 

 fcafoiis. As the weeds are perennial, and produced both 

 from feeds and the roots, great pains are neceffary to be 

 iifed in their extirpation and deftruftion. There are fome- 

 times different forts met with among crops. See Lamium 

 /i'.bum, and Purpureum. 



Calves' fnout is a weed in tillage-lands, in different dif- 

 trifts. It has been obferved not to be uncommon among 

 the corn-crops in Hampfhire, in fome fummers. It would 

 appear too from Withering, that feveral other fpecies of 

 this genus are common in corn- fields, which are annuals ; 

 but the nature of them, or how far they are injurious to 

 cultivated corn-crops, has not yet been determined. See 

 Antirrhinum Orontlum, Elatine, Spurium, Arvenfe, and 

 Minus. 



Shepherd's purfi, or pouch, which, with fome others, are 

 well-known weeds, are fometimes troublefome on arable land. 

 They are annuals of early appearance, and continue a 

 great part of the year. They are to be reduced and de- 

 ttroyed by early and well-dircfted fallowing, or by being 

 rooted up from the ground at an early period. See 

 Thlaspi Arvenfe, Campejlre, and Bur/a Pajloris. 



Whitloiu grafs is faid to be a weed among corn, in fome 

 cafes and forts of land, early in the fpring ; but how far 

 injurious is not well afcertained : it fhould, however, when 

 in quantity, be kept well under. It is but fmall, though 

 quick in growth, and exhaulled in a fhort time. See 

 Draba Verna. 



Codded moufe-ear is another diminutive weed, that fliews 

 itfelf early fometimes among corn in tillage-lands ; but 

 being rapid in its vegetation and decline, is not of much 

 importance as a weed to farmers. 



Smooth and rough-leaved and pale-flowered chadlocks, isfe. 

 are weeds that are extremely troublefome and diflreffing to 

 farmers on tillage-lands, in fome places. The writer of 

 the paper on weeds alluded to above has ftated, that thefe 

 three plants are fometimes confounded together by farmers, 

 under the general name of chadlock, pronounced in the 

 diftrift where he lives kedlock, and in fome others ketlock, 

 though they are as diftinft to the invefligating inquirer as 

 wheat, barley, and oats. That they are all extremely com- 

 mon, or nearly equally fo, if a large range of country be 

 examined ; though the different forts are more or lefs 

 abounding in different places ; that in his neighbourhood he 

 can generally gather the three kinds in the fame field, but 

 tiie muilard is much the moft abundant. In the vicinity of 

 Litchfield, where chadlock is indeed very abundant, it is 

 almofl univerfally wild rape. Some years ago, the writer 

 obferved, in the common fields of the county of Rutland, 

 that the whole furiace was tinged over with the flowers of 

 the wild radifh. They are all great nuifances, and, when 

 fuffered in abundance to ripen their feeds, mufl of taeceffity 

 draw much from the foil, to the great injury of the crop 

 among which tliey are ; and that as they are very quick of 

 growth, and perfeft their feeds expeditioufly, it is not un- 

 common for thefe weeds to fhed their feeds at tlie rate of 

 feveral bufhels on the acre ; and as it is well known that the 

 feeds are capable of vegetating, after lying many years in 

 the ground, it is no wonder they fhould produce a plentiful 

 crop ; yet, being fimply annuals, they are not difficult of 

 dcflruftion, if due attention and proper means be ufed. 

 In order to deftroy thefe, as well as all other fecdling weeds, 

 the land in tillage fliould, it is tliought, be pulveriled and 

 reduced early in the fpring by ph)ughing and harrowing, 

 after which warm weather and rain will foon caufe all the 

 feeds that are near the furface to vegetate ; they may then 

 be permitted to grow until they beyin to flower, when they 



Vol. XXXVIII. 



are to be ploughed in, and the land again harrowed ; and 

 the next rain will then caufe moft of the remaining feeds to 

 fhoot, which are in due time to be ploughed under as be- 

 fore ; and if any fhould afterwards appear amongft the 

 crop, they fhould be hoed or hand-weeded out : by this 

 means, in one or two tillages, thefe weeds may be totally 

 eradicated ; but if they be permitted to fhed their feeds 

 their increafe cannot be wondered at, when their prolific 

 nature is confidered, as well as the extreme hardinefs of 

 their feeds. The feeds, when dreffed from grain, have, it 

 is underllood, been frequently manufadfured into oil. 



The weed called charlock, in many places, is faid to be 

 the moft common of any in the vale of the county of Glou- 

 cefter. It is moft probably the fame with the wild muftard, 

 juft noticed. It is faid, that during the fummer, both on 

 the fallows and in the planted fields, its yellow blon"oms 

 predominate over every other plant, and that unlefs de- 

 ftroyed in this ftate, leave an immenfe crop of feeds behind. 

 In order to check the increafe of this weed, the attentive 

 farmer fuffers it to come into bloffom on the fallows, and 

 then turns it in with the plough. This is not always, 

 however, efFeftual ; as frequently the plants being merely 

 moved, but not from the roots, and two or three inches of 

 the tops left above ground, foon recover the injury they 

 have fuftained, and go on to feed before the next plough- 

 ing. Women and children fhould, therefore, go over the 

 ground with the hoe a few days after the ploughing, and 

 cut up the reviving plants ; or lambs fhould be kept on fuch 

 fallows, which are faid to eat off the tops with avidity. In 

 the planted fields they are hoed and weeded, but as fome 

 will unavoidably efcape, women are put in among the corn, 

 after it is grown to a confiderable height, to pull out the 

 weeds in bloffom with the hand. Thougli the farmer will 

 certainly diminilh the quantity, and prevent any new accef- 

 fion by this attention, yet many years of good hufbandry 

 muft elapfe, before the ill effedls arifing from the negligence 

 of former cultivators can be conquered ; for the feeds being 

 ftrongly charged with effential oil, will continue in the 

 ground for an incalculable length of time uninjured ; and as 

 often as the foil is turned up, a quantity of them will be 

 brought fufBciently within the influence of the atmofphere 

 to vegetate. In 1804, in the parifh of Brockthorpe, in 

 the above county, a confiderable portion of the land in the 

 common field was feen completely covered with this weed, 

 and the feeds perfectly ripe and fcattering on the ground. 

 The ploughing had been negledled until nearly the autumn, 

 and as the land was not cropped, the charlock grew in great 

 abundance, and left more feeds than the good hufbandry of 

 half a century will be able to eradicate. 



It has been ftated, that what is vulgarly called charlock 

 in the vale of the above diftrift, is in reality the common 

 wild muftard grown in the north for its flour. That it is 

 there often coUefted by the country-people for the fame 

 purpofe ; and before the fimple mode of living among the 

 ancient farmers fell into dilufe, few farm-houfes were with- 

 out a cannon-ball and bowl, in which the muftard-leeds were 

 bruifed, and the flour faved for the table with the black 

 hufts unfeparated from it. 



The name charlock is not unufually applied by farmers to 

 different plants of the weed kind, that are equally noxious 

 and hurtful in arable lands, and fome of them perhaps more 

 frequent in fuch fituations than fome of the above, fuch as 

 wild muftard and rape, &c. See Brassica Napus, SiNAPis 

 Arvenjts et Nigra, Raphancs Raphamjlrum, &c. 



Wild rocket is a weed found in tillage -lands in fome dif- 



trids. It is faid, that this weed has made great progrefs in 



the corn-fields in fome places, and is confidered as a very 



H h formidable 



