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in drawing the plants much attention must be paid to destroying the weeds ; take 

 them out when small, or they will injure the plants by retarding their growth ; 

 frequent watering will be necessary in a dry time, and great care should be 

 taken in bringing them forward early ; the ground should be well pulverized ; the 

 bed may be, say three feet wide by thirty feet in length ; take a lai-ge spoonful 

 of seed and mix with half a pint of dry sand ; sow half of it over the bed and 

 rake it in very shallow; then sow the remainder crosswise of the first sowing; 

 by this means you will have seed in for wet and dry weather; then tread your 

 bed crossways and lengthways all solid, and cover with brush plentifully, which 

 will tend to keep the seed moist, and cause it to start early. A bed of this size 

 •will furnish plants for from one to tv.o acres, depending on the number of seeds 

 that may vegetate ; the brush should be taken off as soon as the plants are up, 

 and when they are two inches high they are fit for planting; then improve every 

 good opportunity to set them as fast as they become large enough. Much care 

 should be taken in drawing the plants, so as not to injure the small ones; the bed 

 should be thoroughly wet and all the small roots preserved on the plants, if pos- 

 sible. It is a good plan to take a table fork in loosing the earth around the 

 roots, but great care should be taken not to disturb the roots of plants not in- 

 tended to be drawn at the time. When the bed has been drawn two or three 

 times, late plants, and plants to reset, may be drawn by the use of the fork, and 

 nearly all the small fibi-es be preserved, and they will grow off rapi(.lly. Plough 

 the ground twice, and have it free from weeds and grass ; mark your field into 

 squares, measuring three feet on all sides ; make a small hill in the centre of the 

 squares, into which you will set your plants with care, so that the water will not 

 settle in a heavy rain and cover the plants with dirt when they are small. In set- 

 ting the plants, spread the roots and set no deeper than they were in the seed 

 bed ; the ground should be well cultivated after the plants have taken hold, and 

 be kept free from weeds; after the plants begin to cover the ground so that it 

 will not do to work it with a horse, they should be hilled, and that finishes the 

 culture, except to cut up the weeds, should any grow, as soon as the buttons or 

 buds make their appearance ; and before it blossoms the plants should be topped, 

 leaving from twelve to fourteen leaves on each plant; the suckers will now 

 commence growing from the stock above each leaf, and must be taken out; if 

 suffered to grow, they stop the growth of the leaf, make it thin and neai-ly 

 woithless. You may know when the ci-op is i-ipe by the color of the leaves — the 

 ground leaves will decay, and ground suckers will come out and grow vigorously ; 

 also by folding the leaf between the fingers, if ripe, it will break on being pressed 

 together ; if too green, the leaf will be thin, and will not break under this operation. 

 Gathering the crop. — A small axe may he used for this purpose: cut up as 

 much as you can hang in the afternoon ; lay the plants on the hill until wilted ; 



