Irish Agrieuhurtf. 
31 
at the dioTsring season on a certain piece of ground, and the resnlt 
was that while the produce in potatoes amounted to four tons, 
that of weeds was eleven tons I and Mr. CarToU's statement is 
corroborated bv Mr. Baldwin, who savs that ^ it is no uncommon 
thinff to find ten tons of weeds in an acre of potato ground." 
Weeding- is a department of farm work which many Irish land- 
holders appear to consider unnecessary : and others, from whose 
position better things might be expected, not unfrequently object 
to the operation on the ground that it is an expensive proceeding, 
Ibrsretting altogether that every vear in which weeding is neglected 
serves to increase the evil tenfold. Xor is the neglect of weeding 
oonfined to cultivated land. Thistles, docks, and ragworts — the 
latter especiallv in cattle pastures where no sheep are kept — 
flourish unmolested in the grazings : and where land is laid down 
to grass the seeds sown are Little better, in too many instances, 
than a collection of the seeds of weeds, being derived chiefly 
from the sweepings of hay-lofts, dressed up to suit those who 
consider such " seeds "' more economical than any mixture which 
would be supplied from a respectable seed warehouse. 
As an illustration of this mode of laying down land," I shall 
give some details of one instance which came under my observa- 
tion, not in any remote district, but within an hour's run of 
Dublin by rail. I must premise, however, that it was not on a 
small farm where the system " 1 mean to describe occurred, but 
on a farm which would be classed among the medium holdings. 
In the case to which I refer, it had been thought necessar\- to 
break up some of the old grass fields on the farm, for the purpose 
of renovating them ; and the course pursued was to take four or 
five successive crops of oats, and to sow the " grass seeds." which 
were of the worthless description mentioned above, with the fourth 
or fifth crop, without any further preparation. One field, how- 
ever, after carrying a succession of crops of oats, had been fallowed, 
preparatory to sowing the grass seeds. The fallowing consisted 
in ploughing the stubble of the previous crop during winter, and 
nothing further was done until the field was covered with a fine 
growth ot couch-grass and thistles, and then a scratch cross- 
ploughing- was given to the land. The harrows were set to work 
to level the surlace. after which the " grass-seeds ' were sown 
about the beginning of August, and the whole finished bv rolling. 
The headlands were left untouched, not having been ploughed, 
even in winter : no manure of any kind was put on the land : not 
a single weed was picked off : the roots of the couch-grass lav in 
wisps all over the field, just where thev had been shaken off the 
harrows : and the result was a noble crop of couch and thistles, 
and a poor prospect for pasture ; although in the course of time 
the land would become stf>cked with natural grasses, which spring 
