The Ash. 



and, therefore, it may be unnecessary to take precautions 

 against them ; but, if moles appear, they shouhl be de- 

 stroyed instantly, and so should mice, if they should take a 

 fancy to such things ; for it is quite useless to put seed into 

 the ground, and then abandon it to its fate. 



1 14. The sowing having taken place so early as Novem- 

 ber, the ground will necessarily become hard before the 

 month of April. It will first be battered by the rains, then 

 heaved up by the frost, then battered down by the rains 

 again, then dried and baked by the winds and sun of March 

 and April. This will not prevent the seeds from coming 

 up, for they would almost find their way through a brick ; 

 but, if the ground be very stiff in its nature (and we are not 

 always at liberty to choose our ground), the plants will be 

 feeble, and they never Avill thrive well until this: hard 

 ground be broken about them. The best way, therefore, is, 

 when the winds of March have just begun to dry the 

 ground, to go with an iron rake and just break the ground 

 at the top, by pushing the teeth of the rake upon it from 

 you, and by taking about an inch wide of ground at a time. 

 This will open the ground for the seeds to come up ; and if, 

 after this operation, the ground get dry, no rains will make 

 it stiff and hard, and the plants will come freely up, and be 

 in a beautiful state. 



115. About the middle of May, the weeds, in all their 

 pernicious varieties, will begin to carry on a contest against 

 your plants. If Mr. Ponty's and Dr. Bradley's doctrine 

 were true ; that is to say, if the weeds did not feed upon 

 the same sort of food as the Ash trees, you might save 

 yourself the trouble of weeding them ; but, as this doctrine 

 is false; as the weeds would soon starve your plants, which 

 would perish little by little, or which would, in the follow- 



