THE CULTIVATOR. 
237 
class are built of stone, and the roofs slated. Heath is 
used for thatch, as also turfs cut into scollops. The sea¬ 
son had been up to the 10th instant exceedingly cold. 
The weather has now changed to the warmth of mid¬ 
summer and vegetation is most rapid. The oat and wheat 
crop are not, however, more forward than usually at this 
season in New England; the grass is, I fancy, in advance 
of yours. Soiling is praticed to a considerable extent on 
some farms in the neighborhood of the towns, and fresh 
cut grass is extensively fed, with oats, to working horses. 
Clover and the Italian rye are the prevailing grasses cul¬ 
tivated. 
Honey is abundant in the Highlands—made from the 
blossom of the heather; it is not agreeable to my taste, 
however its mildness may suit others. The hive is after 
the oldest fashion, and most rural, being formed by a coil 
of twisted straw. 
The clothing of the farm laborers is home-made, 
mostly a blue mixture; and in nearly every cottage you 
can hear the sound of the loom. 
The observations above apply-exclusively to the north¬ 
ern districts of Scotland; those of the south being of as 
different character as possible; and offering the finest 
examples of British husbandry which has yet fallen un¬ 
der my notice. They will be the subject of some future 
communication. 
You will notice with some interest reports of the re¬ 
cent debate in parliament upon the subject of the corn 
laws; offering additional ground to suppose that the free 
importation of grain will be the ultimate and not very 
distant result of the increasing agitation of the subject. 
Truly yours, D. G. Mitchell. 
domestic domsponbmce. 
CANADA THISTLES. 
I was glad to see in a late number of the Cultivator the 
remarks on this weed; and more particularly the caution 
against its introduction into places where it is now un 
known; as in this case an ounce of prevention is worth 
some forty or fifty tons of cure, at least. But that the in¬ 
experienced may know something more of the evil they 
should shun, I wish here to repeat in substance a state 
ment I have seen somewhere of the loss occasioned by a 
small patch of Canada thistles, which is perhaps about 
right for such as are small —large ones needing a differ¬ 
ent estimate, especially such an one as I once saw, which 
covered an entire large farm, having spread to this extent 
during a few years neglect. 
Loss from a Small Patch. 
Loss in lot No.l, wheat smothered by their 
growth,. $12 00 
t( « 2, wheat checked in growth, and 
injured in quality by green thistles bound 
up with it,. 10 00 
S( by having ten hands hindered an hour each 
day, for five days, picking thistles from 
their fingers,. 4 
“ by a load of wheat upset before a long 
shower, by being badly built, the loader 
being afraid to touch the sheaves,. 3 
<f by tearing leather strap and breaking three 
cogs from horse power threshing machine, 
in attempting to force a large bundle of 
tough thistles, unbound, through the ma¬ 
chine, . 
“ of time to 11 hands, and by collecting them 
again, three days after the above accident, 
when the machine was mended. 
00 
00 
5 00 
3 00 
Total,. $37 00 
The profits of a farm covered with such patches, inter¬ 
mixed with corn, oats, barley, grass, &c., may be reck¬ 
oned the same way. 
A city may be most easily preserved from conflagra¬ 
tion by allowing no fire to spread; by extinguishing in¬ 
stantly all that appears. The same principle applies to 
the spread of Canada thistles. A miller refused to em¬ 
ploy a skilful embanker to close a muskrat hole in his 
dam because he asked a dollar—a sum he would gladly 
have paid the next day, when the hole had washed larger, 
but not three dollars, the amount then charged; but the 
third day he was compelled to pay fifty dollars, as the tor¬ 
rent was fast sweeping away his dam. The spread of 
Canada thistles must be stopped, if we continue farming; 
why not do it then when it may be easily done ? 
I have had some experience in destroying them, and 
more observation; and I know of no way which will at 
all compare with thorough anil repeated plowing. 
The first plowing must be left till about the lime that 
the thistles appear in flower, or when they have become 
considerably exhausted by growth, when they must be 
well and deeply turned under, mowing the thistles previ¬ 
ously if necessary to the success of the work. Then 
they must be again turned under at least once a month 
till mid-autumn, or thereabouts, when, if the work has 
been avell done, the patch will be killed forever, or till 
the ground is again seeded with thistles from elsewhere. 
Wheat may be sown on the ground the same autumn. 
A statement of a few experiments may place this in a 
clearer light: 
Daniel Wilson, of Covington, Genesee county, N. Y., 
had a patch of Canada thistles so dense that the roots 
formed a complete mat. ‘‘He plowed the ground at 
regular intervals of four weeks for four successive times, 
when after the fourth plowing there was not a thistle to 
be seen, and the ground was in fine tilth for sowing 
wheat, loose and nice enough for any garden vegetables; 
and now, July, 1833. there is a most luxuriant crop of 
wheat on the old thistle bed, and not a solitary thistle has 
been found, although it has been carefully examined by 
those interested in testing its efficacy.” 
“I commenced about the first of June,” said the late 
V. Yeomans, of Walworth, Wayne county, N. Y., “and 
plowed them about once a month, and harrowed them 
as often, till about the first of October. The result is, 
their entire destruction, except a few places where the 
plowing could not be well done.” 
Augustus D. Ayers, of Romulus, Seneca county, N. Y,, 
says, “The field contained six acres, principally occu¬ 
pied with Canada thistles, on which a Florida war had 
been waged for twenty-five years or more, with little 
prospect of success or termination. In the latter part of 
May I broke it up, plowed the ground deep four times, 
and harrowed it in the heat of summer. The result 
was, it killed the Canada thistles, and my ground is in 
good condition for after cropping.” 
An experiment of this kind I also tried myself on 
about four acres of Canada thistles, by causing the ground 
to be plowed thoroughly four times during the season. 
The occupant, who bought the land that year, informed 
me that none appeared the following- season. 
The importance of doing the work well, and of cutting 
off and deeply burying every plant, must be obvious; 
and the superiority of throwing them so far under the 
surface as to require a month for them to creep out, over 
a mere skimming of the surface with the hoe, or cutting 
them off above the surface with the scythe, must be also 
evident. A correspondent of the Genesee Farmer (vol. 
4, p. 324,) killed a patch by hoeing them to the surface 
twice a week; but he worked from spring till nearly the 
first of eighth month (Aug.) before each successive 
three days’ crop began to diminish; after which, by 
closely following their retreat, they rapidly disappeared. 
But they had a much better chance to breathe in this 
case, being a part of the time above ground, than when 
kept wholly under by a deep plowing as soon as they 
made their appearance above the surface. Such treat¬ 
ment would prevent the necessity of taking up and burn¬ 
ing “every plant and vestige of the root,” as Dr. Smith 
recommends in the article above alluded to, which in 
large patches, where the roots oflen run several feet be¬ 
low the surface, would be wholly impracticable; or of 
pulling up every shoot as soon as it appears, “/or seven 
or eight successive years, ” as Loudon recommended,—the 
phrase “as soon as it appears,” meaning probably from 
one week to one month, or more; for it is impossible 
for any plant to live wholly beneath the surface for half 
that term of years. J. J. T 
