Pomological Gossip. Ill 



stems are as thick as a middling-sized willow, hard and 

 woody. They are used for thatching sheds and lighting 

 fires with. 



The proper time for cutting the stems down level with the 

 ground is November, when the sap has descended, and the 

 tops appear yellow. Those who have saved their under- 

 ground stems for planting, should put them in, in March, in 

 rows 18 inches apart, and 9 inches distant in the row, some- 

 thing after the fashion of willow slips, or currant or goose- 

 berry cuttings, only both eyes are left on. They are plant- 

 ed nearly level, say an inch below the surface. Nothing 

 more is reauired except keeping the ground clean, and, as I 

 have said, removing the under-ground stems every Novem- 

 ber for three or four years, until the main crop is lifted. 



Ground at Mitcham costs from 3/. to 41. per acre. An acre 

 of three-year-old plants will produce between 4 and 5 tons of 

 good roots, and the price for the largest and best roots, as I 

 am told, is from 60/. to 70/. per ton ; smaller roots much less. 

 A good liquorice-stick is about the size of a well-grown horse- 

 radish, although some are as thick as small parsnips, and 3 or 

 4 feet in length. 



In taking up the crop, a trench is taken out to the depth 

 of 3, 4, or 5 feet, according to the nature of the former 

 trenching ; a rope is then tied round the top, and it takes all 

 the strength a man has got to pull the plant up. The root 

 generally breaks off, say a foot or so below the trenching ; 

 but, having no eyes, it never sprouts again. I have been in- 

 formed that home-grown liquorice is better than foreign ; and 

 if the acreage given above be correct, it must be a paying crop. 



Art. III. Pomological Gossip. 



McAvoy's Superior Strawtberry. In our last volume, 

 (XVII, p. 360,) we noticed this new strawberry, and the 

 Report of the Committee of the Cincinnati Horticultural So- 

 ciety, awarding the prize of $100 to Mr. McAvoy for its pro- 



