158 



I admit that in the great mixture of vegetables occupy- 

 ing every green sole, there are some, wliich, with the florin, 

 like a dry and rich soil : these, so long as the soil was sour 

 and ungenial, remained in a dormant state ; but now that 

 we have made it rich and drijy they, with the florin, rush 

 into luxuriance, and would crowd; but here we come in aid 

 of the florin, and weed out these rivals. 



In this operation we are much assisted by the habits 

 which florin has derived from nature ; — first it luxuriates 

 at a very late period, whence its rivals of early paroxysm 

 of growth come forward in vigour long before it, and 

 point themselves out for extirpation. 



Secondly, — the paroxysm of florin luxuriance, though 

 very late in commencing, continues much longer in vigour 

 than that of any other vegetable T know ; so long, that its 

 stolones form a thick mat on the surface, under which no 

 other vegetable can exist : — thus, while coarser rivals are 

 pointed out for man to extirpate, the florin itself suffo- 

 cates, and exterminates the more diminutive ones, and 

 remains in exclusive possession of the field. 



Still, however, that possession must be watchfully 

 guarded, and the destruction of intruders never inter- 

 mitted. Weeding of meadows is « new task, disagreeable, 

 and often omitted, and the consequence always fatal ; yet 

 it is not very weighty , as I contract for the weeding of all 

 my florin meadows at five shillings the English acre an- 

 nually. 



It should seem that the measure of raising spontaneous 

 crops of florin, was equally practicable from all grassy 

 soles of three or four years standing, where Nature had 

 time to form her own mixtures ; but in practice the case 

 will be found very different in difi'erent descriptions of 

 ground. 



The sole impediment to our success, arises from the ob- 



