The term weed does not imply any determinate set of plants, but is applied indiscriminately to all those whose growth it is not intended to encourage; thus, in corn fields all the different kinds of grasses are called weeds, because their growth, by exhausting the land, injures the crop of corn; in a bed of carrots any straggling poppies, onions, or other plants, would be called weeds, and vice versa. To destroy weeds, care should always be taken to pull them up before they seed, particularly such weeds as are annuals; and, as different ones have different times of coming up and seeding, it is not to be expected that one or even two weedings in a season will eradicate all. By carefully attending, however, to the plan of destroying them before they flower, we may be certain of having much fewer another season. Many troublesome weeds may be soon destroyed by learning what animals are particularly attached to them, and by suffering such to feed upon them; the dandelion, for instance, which is considered in some situations a troublesome weed, may be eradicated by turning in swine to such land just at the time when it begins to flower, for they will greedily devour every stalk, and thus prevent its increase by seed. Sheep are particularly fond of the ragwort, and if turned into pastures where it abounds, early in spring, will crop it short and prevent its flowering. The entomologist, who will attend to this subject, may point out a variety of insects, whose growth and increase the farmer would do well to encourage, for the purpose of destroying the injurious weeds. (Skrimshire's Essays, vol. ii, p. 178.)

In May, the farmer begins to break up the fallows, which have lain ever since the crops were taken off the last harvest; one of the greatest labours of husbandry, requiring, on clayey soils, four, and sometimes more, stout horses.

JUNE.

Remarkable Days

In JUNE 1821.

1.-NICOMede.

NICOMEDE was a pupil of St. Peter, and was discovered to be a Christian by his burying Felicula, a martyr, in a very honourable manner. He was beaten to death with leaden plummets, on account of his religion, in the reign of Domitian.

*3. 1492.-WILLIAM CAXTON.

About this time, died the venerable Caxton, at the age of eighty, or upwards, who first introduced the art of printing with moveable fusile types into England; an art which may be said, in great measure, to have produced the Reformation, and to have done more for the civilization of mankind and the spread of the Gospel than any other. Till lately there was no monument to the memory of this great man; this reproach on the country is now, however, removed by the Roxburghe Club (Earl Spencer, President), who have caused a simple tablet to be erected in Westminster Abbey, to commemorate the name of WILLIAM CAXTON, a name rendered as immortal as the art he introduced more than three hundred years since!

In early times the PRESS as yet unknown,
The artist carved his hieroglyphic stone,
The lasting pile Ambition sought to raise,
To gratify his ardent thirst of praise:

While round him mouldering ruins mocked his care,
And showed th' oblivious fate his toil must share;
Whilst Genius pensive sat-in thought profound,
Mourning the spoils of ages scattered round!
Benighted reason slumbered in the breast,
Lulled by the gloom of ignorance to rest:
The trackless age with rapid pinion flew,
And dropped the veil that closed the distant view.

Muse! to my pensive hours for ever dear,
With brighter scenes my languid spirits cheer;
From man unlettered as I willing turn,
Let me the guardian hand of heaven discern.
Blest be his shade in endless realms of light,
Who bade the alphabet dispel our night;
Those wond'rous symbols that can still retain
The phantom forms that pass along the brain;
O'er unsubstantial thought hold strong control,
And fix the essence of th' immortal soul;
Man unreluctant meets the general doom,
His mind embalmed defies th' o'erwhelming tomb;
Lives in fresh vigour through succeeding years,
Nor yields its powers whilst nature guides the spheres:
Where swelling Nile his fertilizing stores
O'er thirsty Egypt unexhausted pours ;
Where plenty, rising from the reeking soil,
Bends with the load that asks no human toil;
And every charm luxuriant nature brings,
Spontaneous from her teeming bosom springs.
Industrious Science formed the great design,
To range in words the alphabetic sign;
On language, permanence and life bestowed,
Of written thought the first rude effort showed;
And as the rays of morning's golden eye
Streak with resplendent light the eastern sky,
So with mild beam the sun of learning rose,
That round us now a noontide lustre throws!
Immortal spirits! ye who first could feel
For Learning's pure delights a holy zeal;
Who first the ever-wasting lamp renewed,
Wrapt in the joys of thankful solitude;
And raised the temple on eternal base
To knowledge sacred, and the human race;
Through drear Oblivion's boundless vortex tost,
Sages! we mourn your great productions lost:
Yet be your worth in every distant clime
Acknowledged thro' the thickening mists of Time!

5. SAINT BONIFACE.

McCreery's Press.

Boniface was a Saxon presbyter, born in England, and at first called Winfrid. He was sent as a missionary by Pope Gregory II into Germany, where he made so many converts, that he was distinguished by the title of the German Apostle. He was

created Bishop of Mentz in the year 145. Boniface was one of the first priests of his day, and was also a great friend and admirer of the Venerable Bede. He was murdered in a barbarous manner by the populace near Utrecht, while preaching the Christian religion.

10.-WHIT-SUNDAY.

On Whit-Sunday, or White-Sunday, the catechumens, who were then baptized, as well as those who had been baptized before at Easter, appeared in the antient church in white garments. The Greeks, for the same reason, call it Bright Sunday; on account of the number of bright white garments which were then worn. The name of this Sunday, in the old Latin church, was Dominica in Albis, as was the Sunday next after Easter, on the same occasion. On this day the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles and other Christians in the visible appearance of fiery tongues. The celebration of divine service in St. Peter's church at Rome, on WhitSunday, is described in T. T. for 1815, p. 165.

11.-WHIT-MONDAY.

This day and Whit-Tuesday are observed as festivals, for the same reason as Monday and Tuesday in Easter. Their religious character, however, is almost obsolete, and they are now kept as holidays, in which the lower classes still pursue their favourite diversions. For an account of the Eton Montem, see T. T. for 1815, p. 168. The Whitsun ales, and other customs formerly observed at this season, are noticed in T. T. for 1814, pp. 119, 120.

11.-SAINT BARNABAS.

Our saint's proper name was Joses; he was descended of the tribe of Levi, and born at Cyprus. His parents being rich, had him educated at Jerusalem, under the care of Gamaliel, a learned Jew; and, after his conversion, he preached the Gospel with Paul, in various countries, for fourteen years. Barnabas suffered martyrdom at Salamis, in his na

tive island:-being shut up all night in the synagogue by some Jews, he was, the next morning, cruelly tortured, and afterwards stoned to death. The Epistle which he wrote is considered genuine, though not admitted into the canon of the church.

*16. 1819.-EARTHQUAKE IN ASIA, a part of the world in which such phenomena have been extremely rare. The whole district and territory of Kutch, a country situate to the north-west of Bombay, including several towns and villages, was destroyed, and the entire city of Bhorg, the capital, became a heap of ruins, under which were buried 2,000 of the inhabitants. The earthquake extended northward as far as the city of Ahmedabad, where it did much harm. It was also slightly felt at Poonah, 400 miles from Ahmedabad; and its power extended considerably on each side of the line between those cities. The shocks occurred on several successive days. The British troops, under the command of Sir W. Keir, were encamped in the midst of this dreadful convulsion; but escaped, fortunately, without much injury.

17. TRINITY SUNDAY.

Stephen, Bishop of Liege, first drew up an office in commemoration of the Holy Trinity, about the year 920; but the festival was not formally admitted into the Romish church till the fourteenth century, under the pontificate of John XXII. See also our last volume, p. 135, and The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity briefly stated and defended,' by Rev. T. H. Horne, M.A., author of an Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.

17.-SAINT ALBAN.

St. Alban, the first Christian martyr in this island, suffered in 303. He was converted to Christianity by Amphialus, a priest of Caerleon in Monmouthshire, who, flying from persecution, was hospitably entertained by St. Alban, at Verulam, in Hertford