WEEDING. 
205 
ing buried for years, upon being exposed to air and 
moisture, by ploughing and pulverization of the soil ; 
the prevention, therefore, of weeds shedding their 
seeds, is of great consequence to agriculture, for one 
years seeding shall make seven years weeding. 
Many of the common corn weeds, as thistles, grounsell, 
sow-thistle, colt foot, and many others, have their seeds 
furnished with feathers or wings, by which they fly for 
miles all over the country with the wind, and grow 
wherever they alight ; and I saw many, and some most 
shameful instances, where these weeds were suffered 
in great numbers to perfect and shed their seeds, and 
thus scatter them over the whole country, from fallows, 
hedges, road-sides, and particularly from heaps of soil 
intended for compost and manure ; this neglect ought 
to be considered as a public nuisance, and made indict¬ 
able at common law ; and it would be a good regulation, 
if the constables, who, by ancient custom, are obliged 
to make presentments, and who seldom have any thing 
to present, were obliged upon oath to prevent such of¬ 
fences at the Quarter Sessions, and the offenders to be 
punished by a suitable fine. 
Mr. Marshall, in his minutes on the Vale of Evesham, 
says, it is a common practice there to hoe wheat sown, 
broadcast; as I was not there in the weeding season, this 
escaped my observation, and I therefore beg leave to 
quote from him.—“ The first hoeing is begun in April, 
and ought to be finished before the plants begin to til¬ 
ler, or put out their shoots ; the sooner the second hoe¬ 
ing succeeds the first, the less difficulty there is in 
doing it; width of the hoe from three to five inches, 
from that of the turnip hoe, with the corners rounded 
off; the operation performed by women and children j 
the price half a-crown an acre for the first hoeing, or 
2 sometimes 
