42 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
cient in quantity. There are those, however, and no mean judges, 
who deny this, and select the North Devons even for the dairy. 
“ Mr. Conyears, ot Copt Hall, near Epping, a district almost ex¬ 
clusively devoted to the dairy, preferred the North Devons, on ac¬ 
count of their large produce, whether in milk, butter, or by suckling. 
He thought that they held their milk longer than any other sort that 
he bad tried ; that they were liable to fewer disorders in their ud¬ 
ders ; and that being of small size, they did not eat more than half 
what larger cows consumed. He thus sums up his account of them: 
»Upon average, ten cows gave me five dozen pounds of butter per 
week in the summer, and two dozen in the winter. A good North 
Devon cow fats two calves a year. My 30 North Devon cows have 
this year upon an average, produced a profit of £13 14 0 per cow.’ 
[About <S>61.] As nurses they are excellent; and the calves thrive 
from their small quantity of milk more rapidly than could possibly 
be expected.” 
Miscellaneous. 
CANADA THISTLES. 
Although we gave an abstract of the following communication, which we 
copy from the Genesee Farmer, in our first number, yet from the high cha¬ 
racter of the gentleman who wrote it, Thomas Hilliiouse, Esq. as a citi¬ 
zen and a farmer, the importance of the subject, to our agriculture,—and a 
perfect conviction, arising as well from a conversation with Mr. Hillhouse, 
as from the laws which govern vegetation, that the mode here recommend¬ 
ed, if strictly attended to and persevered in, is the most effectual mode of 
destroying this noxious cumbranee of the ground,—we are induced to copy 
it entire. 
I have recently noticed in the Genesee Farmer several articles 
on the destruction of the Canada thistle ; but none of them seem to 
reach the root of the evil. I am, however, pleased to see the pub¬ 
lic attention drawn to the subject. 
The extermination of this pest of our plough fields, is an object 
of great importance to all farmers, who are unfortunate enough to 
have them on their lands; and it is therefore, in a measure, incum¬ 
bent on them to communicate to each other whatever methods they 
have taken for that purpose, and particularly such as have had the 
desired effect. 
I have no expectation that this thistle is to be totally and entirely 
eradicated, and banished from the country, as it is a perennial plant, 
and is to be found on the road sides, in woods, and in all unoccupied 
lands, (at least in this vicinity.) All that can be done with such, if 
near at hand, is to cut them off and prevent their seeding. But 
being possessed of another manner of propagating themselves, more 
sure and certain, by their side or horizontal roots, which the cutting 
of the tops of the plant does not affect or check; they therefore 
must be permitted to remain, in such places, by a sort of compro¬ 
mise, that they are to be prevented from scattering their seeds on 
to our plough fields, from which I am confident they may be expel¬ 
led, and after which, easily kept out; any further than this I shall 
not attempt doing or advise others to do. 
Some enactments of the legislature, as recommended in the Farm 
er, would undoubtedly be of use. Such as obliging the owners of 
land (at least such as is under improvement,) to cut them at the 
proper time—imposing a penalty for neglect—and making it the duty 
of overseers of highways to have this done on the margin of roads. 
It would likewise have the effect of calling the public attention to 
the thing, and spread the alarm. 
In articles of this sort, intended to guide the operations of others, 
unless one goes somewhat into detail, the object is in a measure 
lost; for those (if any there should be,) who may be induced to adopt 
the method recommended, will have a wish to know all the particu¬ 
lars of the process before they commence. I shall therefore be 
compelled to make this of greater length than I supposed at first 
setting out would be necessary. What is here stated, however, is 
all from my own knowledge ; nothing is given on hearsay. 
When I purchased the farm which I now occupy, about thirty 
years ago, excepting some meadow lands, near a river, and some 
other small pieces, there were little or no improvements on it; be¬ 
ing thrown out to commons, and mostly covered with small sapling 
wood and bushes—or as my Dutch neighbors expressed it, “it had 
run out to bush.” In open spots in this bush, the Canada thistle was 
sprinkled pretty liberally ; and after clearing and ploughing they be 
gan to spread to an alarming extent, and threatened to overrun the 
whole premises. The first led me (but not in time by many years) 
to adopt some method more effectual than cutting off the tops to 
stop their progress. 
It is well known to all farmers as well as botanists, that the roots 
of no tree or plant, whether annual, biennial or perennial, can long 
survive, if prevented from vegetating, and coming to the light of 
day. My theory was based on this principle. I commenced opera¬ 
tions about eight years ago on some small patches in a field planted 
with corn, as soon as any thistles appeared after planting, cutting 
them off twice a week at first: and was very particular never to 
have it neglected. It would take but a few moments to go over a 
patch two or three rods square, with a hoe; at the same time being 
very careful to leave none: and to be sure of this I generally went 
over the ground, row by row, a second time. The deeper they are 
cut off with the corner of the hoe, the longer time of course it will 
require the new shoots to reach the surface again. I followed them 
up in this way, and about the middle of August they began to come 
up thin and scattering, and appeared of a sickly, yellowish hue.— 
This was encouraging, and we continued the operation, (though S 
found it was not necessary to look to them quite as often as at first,) 
to about the first of October, or until no more appeared, and none 
have since shown themselves in these spots. 
By digging down to the main roots in August or September, they 
were found in a state of decay, being of a blackish colour. The re¬ 
sult of this first attempt, is already given; but I will give something 
more of the details of the operation. That there should be no diffi¬ 
culty in finding the several patches when the corn had attained its 
full height, 1 placed high poles at each spot so that they could be 
seen over the tops of the corn, and kept a hoe on the ground to be 
ready at hand whenever I happened, in walking over my premises, 
to take them in my way, and cut them off if any were to be seen. 
In this way, but little time was spent; in fact none worth noticing. 
And as early as the first of October, as before observed, they were 
completely conquered. I ascribe the early season at which these 
patches were subdued, to their being allowed no breathing spell, 
and no omission being made through the season of operation, of cut¬ 
ting them off as fast as they appeared. 
I have sometimes in lieu of, or rather for the want of a hoe, used 
a piece of hard wood, flattened to two or three inches wide at one 
end, and sharpened ; or what is still better, a piece of iron or steel, 
like a chisel, fastened to the end of a stick or walking cane. It is 
proper to have some kind of tool in hand, or at the spot, otherwise 
some might escape, when one was accidentally passing near them. 
Although the actual labor and time spent to destroy thistles in thi3 
way, is but trifling, at least in small patches: still it requires consi¬ 
derable patience and much diligence, that the thing may never on 
any account be neglected during the season of their growth ; and I 
would caution all such as may have an inclination to try the experi¬ 
ment, that unless they are fully determined to persevere, and have 
full confidence that they can do it for at least four months, not to at¬ 
tempt it; because by any neglect during the season, the previous 
time spent, is in part lost; as by allowing the plants a breathing 
spell in the sun and air, now life and vigor is communicated to the 
roots, which is the thing intended to be destroyed. 
As an evidence of this, in the season of 1828, I undertook to kill 
the thistles on a field of about fifteen acres planted with corn ; and 
on which there were near twenty patches. Having placed the 
poles as before, I began cutting them as soon as any appeared after 
planting. They were followed up without any neglect, and as fast 
as they appeared, until about the 20th of August, when they appear¬ 
ed nearly subdued or in a fair way for it, beginning to come up scat¬ 
tering and yellow. At this time I was called away on a journey, 
and was absent nearly four weeks, leaving strict injunctions on my 
men not to neglect the thistles in my absence. How far they 
attended to it, I cannot say, for immediately on my return, I was 
taken sick, and was confined until after corn harvest. The thistles 
of course were forgotten. To make the matter still worse, the 
ground instead of being planted again as it should have been, was 
sown with barley and peas, and in September following with wheat, 
and the next spring stocked with clover for pasture. The same 
patches of thist'es having revived, began to show themselves, on 
the barley and peas, but being few in number and scattering, no at¬ 
tention was paid them. They have since continued to increase and 
spread by their horizontal roots, so that there is nearly or quite as 
many on the field as at first; although they have been regularly 
mowed off every year, and sometimes a second time, and have not 
