SAL 



SAL 



branches and branchlets opposite, spreading, 

 four-cornered, naked at the base, rufous: shoots 

 four-grooved, green at the top, clammy: the 

 leaves spreading, acute (in the garden bluntish), 

 crenate-serrate, somewhat wrinkled, veined, 

 with the midrib and veins prominent only be- 

 i.eath, subcoriaceous, greenish, but paler on the 

 bac!\: petiole scarcely half as long as the leaf, 

 round on one side, grooved on the other : 

 flowers very many, from the axils of the shoots, 

 in a sort of whorl, in the garden commonly five 

 together, the two lower of which are later: they 

 are on short, spreading, one-flowered peduncles, 

 jointed at the top. It is a native of Peru, 

 flowering most part of the summer. 



Culture. — These plants are in most of the 

 sorts raised without much difficulty 7 . 



Culture in the Sage Kind. — This in all the 

 varieties may be effected by slips or cuttings of 

 the young shoots from the sides of the branches, 

 sometimes also by bottom rooted off-set*, and 

 likewise by seed. Slips both of the former and 

 same year's growth may be used. 



Those of the first sort may be employed in 

 April, but the latter not till May, or later: these, 

 however, most readily strike root, and assume 

 a free growth. 



In either case, moist weather should be 

 chosen ; and having recourse to some good 

 bushy plants, a proper quantity of the outward 

 robust side shoots, about five, six, or seven 

 inches long, should be slipped off, trimming off 

 all the lower leaves, then planted out in some 

 shady border, with a dibble, in rows half a foot 

 asunder, putting them down almost to their tops, 

 giving water directly, to settle the earth close, 

 as well as to promote an early emission of root- 

 fibres, and repeating the waterings occasionally 

 in dry weather : the slips in general soon emit 

 fibres, anil shoot freely at top : when they have 

 a tendency to spindle up with slender shoots, or 

 run up to flower, it is proper to top them short in 

 order to force out laterals below, to assume a 

 bushy growth: they mostly form tolerably bushy 

 plants by the autumn, when, or in the spring 

 following, they may be removed, with balls of 

 earth about their roots, and planted where tbey 

 are to remain, either in four-feet beds, or in 

 continued rows, a foot and half asunder, if de- 

 signed as a close plantation for use : those de- 

 signed for the pleasure-ground should be dis- 

 posed in the borders, 8cc. so as to afford va- 

 riety. 



Where there are rooted off-sets, tbey may be 

 slipped off separately with the fibres to them, 

 either as the plants stand in the ground, or the 

 bunches of plants taken up and divided into as 

 many separate slips as are furnished with roots, 



being planted out at once where they are to 

 remain. 



The plants raised from young slips generally 

 form the strongest and most bushy plants. 



In raising these plants from seed, which is 

 but seldom practised, it should be sown in April, 

 in a bed of light rich earth, raking it in : the 

 plants soon conie up ; and when about two or 

 three inches high, should be pricked out, the 

 strongest in nursery rows, half a foot asunder, 

 to gain strength till the autumn or spring fol- 

 lowing, and then planted out with balls where 

 they are to stand. 



In the after-culture of this species and va- 

 rieties, all that is requisite is the keeping them 

 clean from weeds in summer, cutting; down the 

 decayed flower-stalks in autumn, and slightly 

 digging between the rows in the same season, to 

 keep them clean and decent during the winter, 

 &c. But where this digging is not done in the 

 autumn it should not be omitted in the spring. 



The leaves of the Sage should be gathered- 

 with care and attention, not to cut the tops too 

 close, to render the plants naked and stubby, 

 especially when late in autumn and winter ; in 

 which they would be more liable to suffer from- 

 severe frost than when the head is preserved 

 somewhat full and regular: besides, in this state 

 the plants continue longer in a prosperous free 

 growth. 



When, in any old plantation, naked, stubby, 

 or decayed parts occur, they should be cut out, 

 and any straggling irregular growths reduced to 

 order by occasional pruning in spring or sum- 

 mer, by which the plants will more readily emit 

 fresh shoots and form full heads. 



Fresh plantations of Sage should be formed as 

 the old ones decline. 



In continuing them where the ground is much 

 impoverished, a little dry rotten dung should be 

 pointed in lightly, to give more vigour to the 

 plants. 



Culture in the Clary Kind. — These in the 

 herbaceous kinds are easily raised from seed, and 

 in the perennial sorts by parting the roots. 



The seed should be sown in March, in any 

 bed or border of common earth, raking it in ; 

 and when the plants have got leaves of two or 

 three inches growth, they should be planted out 

 in showery weather, in rows eighteen inches 

 distant, and at the same distance in the lines : 

 they soon strike root, and grow large, furnishing 

 large leaves, fit for use in autumn, winter, and 

 the following sprang. 



The perennial sorts are raised from seed in 

 the same manner, setting the young plants out in 

 the summer in nursery-rows till autumn, when 

 they should be planted out into the borders, 8cc. 



