1802.]‘Agriculture: 309

Plenty and cheapneſs of pork, hams, and bacon may, therefore,-be confi- dently expe&ed in the courſe of the preſent year. The making of cheeſe has been begun in the dairies: and ſince the beginning of April, e have had plenty of excellent(ummer cheeſe in the markets., The hops are in forwardneſs in Kent and the other diltri&ts in which they grow. We believes that the búuck-wheat has been got every where well into the ground on thoſe ſandy ſoils on which it thrives, April is the month for the morille-mnſh+< rooms in thoſe parts of Eſſex and Cambridgeſhire in which they grow. But we much doubt, that the April now ended may have proved too mou for thèm. The pea-hen has begun to lay, laſt month. Her eggs arês for delicacy of taſte and flavour,-preterable to thoſe, even of the pheaſant and the guinea-hen, April has has been, by its moiſt weather, ſuthiciently favourable to the later ſowings of madder.

We would earneſtly recommend to thoſe whoſe grounds are infeſted with thiltles, to cut them, now, or pluck them up by‘the roots, if they: have not already done ſo. By thus anticipating their running to ſeed, they may with little difculcy, effe, within a few ſeaſons, the entire extirpation of thoſe noxious weeds. With nettlés, the ſame management ſhould be uſed.

Paſture grounds infeſted with the crow-garlick and ſauce-alone or Jack in the hedge, éught to be, now, carefully cle red of thoſe plants; as they never fail to give a wild ra'k flavour to thc milk.

Where orchards begin now to be infeſted with caterpiliars, we would{till recommend to the gardener, the old ſimple way of deſtroying theſe infe&s, as well as to obviate the miſchicfs from blighting winds. Make heaps of damp ſtraw to the windward of your trees. Set theſe on ûre.| Add wet ftraw to the heaps wbile they burn. The inſets are too tender not to periſh by the ſmoke.

‘The poles have, we preſume, been, every where, ſet by this time, in the hop- bills, as the growth of the plants cannot but have required it. But, we would earneſtly recommend that the tops of the poles ſhould be inclined, with the greateſt cares outward, that a free circulation of air may be ad. mitted among the growing plants.

One ofthe labours which will prove the moſt profitable in the beginning of May, is to cleanſe out the ponds and ditches, and to put the matter tron them as manure, on lands of a ſoil which is barren from thinnefſs,

The ſaffron-plant is a native of China. It was firſt intreducéed into Bri- tain by Sir Waller Raleigh. Its firſt plantation was at the place named Saffron-Walden. Lt thrives only in a light loamy ſoil. The ground ſhould be prepared for it, and it ſhould be planted, in May.

In Dénmark, it is uſual to ſhear-the ſheep twice in the year. Upon a comparative trial of this mode with that of ſhearing once in the year, it was found that the ſheep were weakened by being, in one year twice ſhornz; and that the wool thus obtained from them, was ſhorter than the whole year’s growth of wool. But, on the other hand, the wool obtained by twice ſhearing, is greater in quantity, finer, more free from intermixture of coarſe hairs, and not ſo much matted into tatlocks, as.that of the whole year's growth. There is by conſequence, a greater profit to the owner by ſhearing bis ſheep twice in the year than by ſhearing them once. The trial which gave theſe veſults, was made with the greateſt care by a royal commiſſion. Would ît not be of conſequence to repeat ſuch a trialin a wool-country like England?

The Dublin Society has begun to inftitute ſurveys of the agriculture of Ireland, ſimilar to thoſe which were made of the different counties of Great Britain, by the Board of Agriculture under the auſpices of Sir John Sinclair.

A number of Noblemen and Gentlemen, triends to the improvement of the arts of rural œconomy, aná admirers of patriotic merit in'an exalted ftation, have aſſociated in ſubſcribing a conhiderable ſum of money to be ex- pended in raihng a public monument to che memory of the late Duke of Bedford,