WEEDING, 



The writer of the paper on weeding has ftated, that it is and fpring up fully after rain, and afterwards ploughing 



remarked by the author of the Eflays on Rural Affairs, that under the young plants : alfo that frequent ploughings and 



there is only one mode of extirpating annual weeds, the feeds ' ' "' "^ ■" 



of v/hich are indeilruftible ; which is to put the ground into 



fuch a ftate as to induce them to fprout or germinate, and 



then to deilroy the young plants by harrowing them up, or 



ploughing them under. This, it is believed, is ftriftly true ; 



but the author of the paper juft noticed does not exaftly 



agree witli the writer of the eflays in the procefs to be pur- 



fued for the purpofe ; the ground, in this intention, in his 



opinion, fliould be ploughed before winter, but not har- 

 rowed, it being better to lie rough through that feafon, fo 



as to have the greateft extent of furface poflible expofed to 



tlic aftion and mellowing effefts and influence of frofl;s ; 

 that, as foon as it becomes dry, in or about March, it 



fliould be crofs-ploughed and harrowed well down ; many 

 of the feeds and roots will then vegetate, which fliould in 

 due time be ploughed under, and the land harrowed again, 

 and this fort of procefs be repeated as often as neceflary : 

 this, it is faid, is the true ufe and manner of fummer-fal- 

 low in this view, which, to have its full and proper eff'eft, 

 fliould always, it is thought, be attended to early in the fea- 

 fon, when the powers of vegetation are the greateft, and the 

 heat of the fun is powerful ; as under fuch circumitances 



harrowings are neceflary, to expofe all the'feedhngs con- 

 tained in the foil to the powers of vegetation. But it is 

 conceived, that the ploughings and harrowings of fallow 

 ground fliould not, however, immediately fucceed each 

 other ; time fliould be given for the confolidation of the 

 foil, which, after well harrowing, will undergo a flight 

 fermentation, and fettle, as it were, into a mafs ; after which 

 it will turn up mellow, and the deftruftion of weeds will go 

 on apace. It is thought, that the frequent ploughings, 

 which have been recommended by fome, are not only un- 

 neceflary, but injurious. It has always been obferved, that 

 one ploughing of a fallow too foon fucceeding another has 

 no other effeft, when ufed in this intention, than that of 

 rooting about the clods, and preventing the general effeft 

 of confolidation and fermentation in the land. The fuffering 

 of the weeds to fpread their leaves a little between the fe- 

 veral ploughings of a fallow, for this purpofe, is not, it is 

 fuppofed, injurious: care, however, mud be taken not to 

 carry this notion too far, particularly in the cafe of fquitch 

 or couch grafs, or fo as to fuff^er any of the quick growing 

 weeds to ripen their feeds, or the luxuriant ones to become 

 too large for being buried with the plough. As thefc re- 



the greater number of weeds will be brought into a ftate of marks are judicious, and perfeAly praftical, they deferve 



growth. the particular attention and confideration of the farmer, 



It is thought that the great defedl in the management of wherever the weeding and proper cleaning of his ground is 



fummer-fallows in the intention of deftroying weeds would concerned. 



feem to be the negleft of working them early in the feafon, 

 by which omiflion the vigorous annual feedhng-weeds are 

 not brought into vegetation in due time ; as, after which, 

 they will not grow until the fpring following, when they 

 appear in fuch abundance among the wheat or other crop, as 

 fometimes to choke it up : this is the reafon, it is faid, why 

 the field poppy, the corn-crowfoot, the tare, and many other 

 annual weeds, make fuch havoc among wheat, when by a 

 proper and judicious early working of the fallow, they 

 might have been brought to exhauft themfelves in the follow- 

 ing fummer : this appears very clear from the effeft, for if 

 no wheat were fown, the feeds of thefe weed plants would 

 often fill the ground with a full crop ; but feeds can vegetate 

 but once, confequently had this vegetation been brought on 



It is ftated too, that in this view, if a fallow for turnips 

 be crofs-ploughed and harrowed down in the month of 

 March, it will generally he very well to the beginning of 

 May ; and that in general no fallow will want ploughing 

 oftener, in fuch intention, than once in fix weeks, if fuffi- 

 cient harrowings be given between the ploughings. The 

 particular time moft proper for thefe operations muft, how- 

 ever, be determined not by any general rule, but by local 

 circumftances, experience, and obfervation. 



In cafes where lands have not undergone proper improve- 

 ment, or been under a bad ftate of management, weeds 

 cannot be deftroyed without much labour and expence. 

 ( See Weed. ) But where lands are already improved, and 

 have been for fome length of time under a good fyftem of 



in the fallow, and the plants afterwards been ploughed under management, the bufinefs is in part performed, and the evil 



In due time, none could have appeared in the wheat -crop. much leflened ; ae in fuch cafes, as well as all others, every 



It is fuppofed, too, that the turnip-culture is peculiarly rotation or courfe of cropping fliould render the land cleaner 



adapted to the deftrudfion of weeds, as for this fort of crop and freer from weeds, which will certainly be the cafe, 



the ground muft of neceflity be in early and fine preparation, where there is a proper and correft attention beftowed on 



by which weeds of early growth are conveniently brought the bufinefs. The means which are neceflary to be ufed in 



into vegetation, and deftroyed ; and thofe which remain in this intention are commonly, it is faid, thefe : complete and 



the living ftate in the foil may be exterminated by hoeing. 

 It has been obferved by the writer, that wet weather is as 

 necefTary as dry to give a fummer-fallow its whole effeft ; for 

 without a foaking of rain after the land is pretty well pul- 

 verifed, numbers of the feeds of weeds will not vegetate, 

 but remain and grow amongft the crop ; the root-weeds are 



well-managed fallows, as above, when fallows are neceflary 

 or proper ; the ufe of manures, which are free from the 

 feeds or quick roots of weeds ; the careful choice of fuch 

 feed grain as is clean ; the praftice of fliort tillages, or that 

 of not taking too many crops in rotation ; the having re- 

 courfe to attentive weeding and a fpirited ufe of the hoe, in 



therefore to be deftroyed in dry weather, and the feedling which view the drill huftjandry doubtlefsly, it is fuppofed, 



ones after rain ; and though the land fliould, after a dry aftbrds fuperior advantages to the broad-caft, in keeping 



feafon, be apparently in excellent order for fowing, it will land clean from weeds ; but that land muft be well cleaned 



be better to wait the eff'eft of rain, and even give time for before the drill huftiandry is applicable ; the plentiful ufe of 



the feedling weeds to vegetate, before the feed for the crop the clean feeds of the beft grafles and trefoils at the end of 



be aftually fown. the tillage, in each cafe ; the weeding of the land, when in 



It is, therefore, fuggefted, that the deftruftion of root or at grafs, fo as not to fuffer the feeds of any noxious or 



weeds, and thofe of the feedling kind, on corn-land, muft injurious plants to fpread themfelves ; and that when upon 



be effefted upon different principles, and in different man- again breaking up the land, to purfue fuch a fyftem or 



ners ; the former, by working them out of the foil in dry plan of cropping as will not increafe or encourage weeds, 



weather only ; the latter, by pulverifing and reducing the But though much might be faid on each of thefe points, it 



particles of the foil, fo ae to induce the feed to germinate is thought unncceffary, as the intelligent farmer will readily 



I i 2 adopt 



