The Ash. 



ing Autumn, be such insignificant things, as to leave you 

 no hope of ever making any thing of them, it is absolutely 

 necessary that you keep the ground clear of weeds. This 

 is done by the hands of people, going along between the 

 alleys, pulling the weeds out with their hands, and cither 

 putting them into baskets to carry them away, or throwing 

 them down into the alleys. The former is best, but is not 

 always convenient; at any rate, ALL the weeds and grass 

 should be taken clean out at the first weeding. It is 

 slovenly and scandalous work to take out nothing but the 

 prominent weeds ; the little weed that is left will become 

 a great weed in a very short time, and the sooner, because 

 its seniors have been removed. Weeders, if left to them- 

 selves, will always leave a stock in order to continue the 

 breed, upon the same principle that mole catchers abso- 

 lutely refuse you, and assign the reason at the same time, 

 to catch a mole in the breeding season. The weeding 

 should, therefore, be thoroughgoing work ; Jt should not 

 be a partial removal of the obnoxious plants; it should not 

 content itself with merely plucking out the great staring 

 things, and leaving the little underling, but perhaps much 

 more efficient agents in the work of mischief : the planter 

 should, in short, imitate the Duke of Wellington ; that 

 is to say, take out all quite clean, down to the very 

 chick-weed, and not to leave any one under the name of 

 lamb's lettuce, or fat lien, or any other appellation indicative 

 of harmlessness ; even these apparently inoffensive things 

 should be taken out, and that too, if possible, to the very 

 bottom of their tap root. It may be impossible to do this 

 with regard to docks, thistles, and dandelions ; but, in the 

 first place, before the ground is begun to be digged, you 

 should go over it, and take up all these with the greatest 

 possible care, and as deep as you can ; and then the diggers 

 should be made to take out, as they go on, every bit that 



