COLLECTIONS AND RE COLLECT [ON S. 463 
more, taken from the “Original Agricultural Survey,” published in 
1794. They are quite miscellaneous, but many of them are very 
curious. Some may perhaps invite discussion as to their truth or 
their merits. 
The Pine-aster fir is not a valuable wood, but it stands the sea 
air without being injured. Mr. Praed found that sowing the seed in 
spring, as is commonly done by nurserymen, did not answer his ex¬ 
pectations. He, therefore, threw a number of cones into an inclosed 
place, where they opened naturally, and dropped their seeds in the 
beginning of June, which is the time he has since selected to sow 
them both in his fields and nursery. 
Use of Rushes. —“Follow nature .” When Brindley was exa¬ 
mined before the House of Lords, on the Duke of Bridgewater’s ca¬ 
nal, he was asked by a noble Lord how he contrived to render the 
banks, in a particularly difficult part, firm.—He said he sowed 
rushes on the bank ; he was again asked at what season, he answered 
bluntly, “ I observed the time that the rushes shed their seeds, and 
I sowed mine as nature did, could you have done better, my Lord ?” 
ib. page 61. 
how to cut underwood.— Gorse or Furze is cut in February; 
too much caution cannot be used in providing the men with good 
tools, each man should have them fresh ground every morning. 
They are applied as close to the ground as possible, and the stem of 
the furze is cut clean off, with the edge of the tool turning upwards. 
Part of a field was cut in the usual way, within four or five inches of 
the ground, and the stubbs left ragged, by which the sun, wind and 
wet, penetrated, and destroyed a great number of plants. The same 
observation holds with respect to the other underwood. 
Destroying Rushes. —This is effected by a strong scythe, with 
a blade of about twenty inches, but curved differently from the com¬ 
mon scythe. The edge is nearly set in a straight direction from 
heel to point, but the flat part of the blade curves about four inches 
from a straight line. The sneatli or sneyd to which the blade is fixed, 
is about three feet six inches long, and has one scythe-like handle, at 
about eighteen inches from the top. When the work is performed, 
one hand is placed upon the top of the sneatli, and with the handle 
in the other, the crown of the rush roots, by a smart stroke of the 
instrument, is scooped out with the convex part of the blade. The 
most proper season for this operation is in the spring* 
Mode of preventing Pigs from Roofing. —The gristly or 
horny part of the snout, through which the ling is usually put, is 
cut away with a sharp knife. By this means alone, without the 
