It is not to be imagined that each individual plant brings to perfection the number of seeds here stated, and proportionably multiplies itself; but some idea may be formed of its capabilities of increase, under circumstances favourable to development. It is obvious, in most cases, that making due allowance for the casualties to which seeds are constantly liable, enough would be left, where seeding is allowed for a single year, to give trouble for years to come. importance of destroying weeds before their seeds ripen is sufficiently apparent; and when once successfully accomplished, the labour afterwards required to keep the land clear will be comparatively trifling

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The interference of the legislature to enforce the destruction of noxious plants is not novel. By a

regulation in France, a farmer may sue his neighbour who neglects to destroy the thistles upon his land at the proper season; or he may employ persons to do it at the other's expense. In Denmark there is a law to oblige farmers to root up the corn marigold, chrysanthemum segetum. In Scotland, this plant was deemed so peculiarly pernicious to the corn-fields, that a statute of Alexander II., about the year 1220, was specially directed against it. It denounces that man to be a traitor "who poisons the king's lands with weeds, and introduces into them a host of enemies." Bondsmen who had the plant in their corn were fined a sheep for each stalk. Under the authority of this law, Sir William Grierson was accustomed to hold courts, for the purpose of fining the farmers in whose growing crops three heads or upwards of the weed were found. In England, a clause enforcing the extirpation of weeds in hedges, along the sides of roads, once passed the House of Commons, but was thrown out by the Lords. There is no lack of precedent, therefore, for legislation upon the subject. It must be admitted to be annoying for the occupier who keeps his land in perfect order, to have a slovenly husbandman for his neighbour, who seems as intent upon rearing cockle and thistle as wheat and barley, the light seeds of which are blown with every breath of wind over the fields of the careful agriculturalist. But this is one of the inconveniences inevitable to a state of society, which men must bear as the price of its advantages. Legislative enactments would afford a very inadequate remedy, while excessive irritation. would be grafted upon the espionnage involved in their application. Good husbandry will be best promoted by the spread of intelligence; and by examples of

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success appealing to the self-interest of negligent cultivators. No people were ever yet made truly wise, thoughtful, and industrious by the force of law. Solomon had occasion to observe in his day: went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.". Thus, in all spheres of life, the indolent never rise in the social scale, but are frequently reduced to penury by the slothful neglect of means and opportunities; while, as a general rule, a wise and benignant Providence crowns the efforts of honest industry with that measure of success by which sufficiency of bread is secured, if affluence is denied.

CHAPTER III.

GRAZING HUSBANDRY.

Live Stock-The Horse-British Steeds-Imported Races-Existing Varieties-Cattle-Various Breeds-Ox-teams-Highland Black Cattle-Drovers-Metropolitan Cattle Market-Dairy Produce-Milk, Butter, Cheese -Sheep-Long and Short-woolled Breeds-Wool Harvest-Lambing Season-Snow Storms-Sagacity of Sheep-Losses on Sheep FarmsSwine-Hogs of the New Forest-Wild Race-Export from IrelandMiscellaneous Live Stock-Poultry-Bees-Humanity to Domesticated Animals.

THE rearing of horses, cattle, and sheep, with subordinate live-stock, and the raising of dairy produce, though commonly more or less combined with arable husbandry, are yet so prominently pursued in certain districts as to distinguish them from other portions of the country. Thus the produce of the dairy is a primary object of attention in the counties of Gloucester, Devon, Dorset, and Chester, while the rich grazing lands of Lincoln, Northampton, Leicester, Huntingdon, Somerset, and the Holderness division of Yorkshire, are specially devoted to the fattening of cattle and sheep.

LIVE STOCK-THE HORSE.

This noble animal, so obedient to the will of man, and indispensable to purposes of business and pleasure, seems to have been numerous in the country at the dawn of its authentic history. Upon the arrival of the Romans, the natives not only encountered them on foot, but as horsemen and charioteers; and as the skill with which the steeds were managed excited the

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admiration of the foreigners, it is evident that their masters had long been equestrian in their habits. The characters of the original stock are not known, except by inference from the rapid movements of the cavalry; and the ease with which the horses were stopped when at full speed, or had their direction altered. It is probable that they were light, hardy, agile animals, docile yet spirited, of small stature, like the present ponies of the Welsh mountains, and the shelties of the Scottish highlands. So highly valued were they, that the conquerors imported them to Rome. A remark of St. Augustine attests their stature. "The ponies brought from Britain were chiefly in use among strolling performers to exhibit in feats of their craft." During the time of their dominion, the Romans doubtless altered and improved the native race by intermixture with breeds from the continent.

In the Anglo-Saxon times, the horse was held in the highest estimation, and was the national insignia of the race. A remarkable monument to this effect, supposed to commemorate a victory, is still extant in the rich valley of the White Horse in Berkshire. It consists of a colossal representation of the animal, carved on the side of a hill by the cutting into the chalk, the whiteness of which on a sunny day contrasts strikingly with the green of the surrounding turf. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood have an ancient custom of assembling to scour the horse," or remove the grass and weeds that have encroached upon the figure. King Athelstan prohibited the exportation of horses, except as presents to monarchs, from which it may be inferred that the native stock was valued on the continent. That it was numerous is clear from the fact, that the sea-roving northmen