Ch. XXVI.] ON COLE AND MUSTARD SEEDS. 313 



set out at twelve inches distance in the rows. Instead of dibbling upon 

 the second ploughing, they in many cases lay the plants at the proper dis- 

 tances across the furrow, and as the plough goes forward] the roots are 

 covered, and a woman follows to set them a little up, and to give them a 

 firmness in the ground where necessary. Immediately after the frost, and 

 again in the month of April, the intervals are weeded and hand-hoed, and 

 the earth drawn up to the plants, which is the last operation till the harvest. 

 The crop is pulled rather green, but ripens in the stack, and is thrashed out 

 without any particular management ; but the haulm is burned for ashes, as 

 a manure, which are found to be so highly valuable, beyond all other sorts 

 which have been tried, that they bear a price as three to one above the 

 other kinds ; and it is considered, that upon clover, a dressing of one-third 

 less of these is amply sufficient *." 



In this country, however, transplanting is only rarely practised, and the 

 crop, being usually thrashed out upon the field, is always left to stand 

 until it is perfectly ripe ; the harvest should, however, be commenced as 

 soon as any of the pods become quite brown, for they do not ripen 

 equally, and if left too long they are very apt to shed the seed ; the ave- 

 rage produce may be estimated at about twenty-eight bushels t. but upon 

 the rich fen-lands it is frequently as much as five quarters per acre J. If 

 the seed be large, black, and free from red ones, it may be reckoned good ; 

 but, if kept long before it is sold, it should be laid very dry, or otherwise it 

 will lose its colour, and be much damaged. 



MUSTARD-SEEDS, 



Although partaking of the same nature, are of two species, commonly 

 known as white and brown mustard, and are distinguished not only by the 

 difference of their colour, — which in the one is of a whitish yellow, and in 

 the other a brown, approaching to black, — but also by the pods of the 

 former being prickly, while those of the latter are smooth. Both produce 

 oil of very good quality, and quite free from any pungency of taste; but 

 the latter is the kind which, when ground into powder, is used at our tables 

 as the condiment distinctively termed " mustard." 



Tlie soil^ for both sorts, should be rich, but especially so for the brown 

 speciex, which is rather extensively grown in Faulness and Wallasea 

 Islands, and some of tlie strong-land liundreds of Essex ; but large crops 

 of the white kind are grown upon light loams. They may be advan- 

 tageously grown after wheat, provided the land be got into fine order, and 

 is well manured ; after which it should be hoed two or three time's, and 

 managed much in the same manner as cole ; the brown species, however, 

 strains the land more than the white, and as some of the seeds are inevit- 

 ably shed upon the ground during harvest, they afterwards spring up, and 

 are extremely difficult to eradicate. 



The quantity sown is usually about a peck and a-half per acre ; but 

 good crops have been obtained from only two quarts §. If not drilled, 

 the plants should be set out at the distance of about ten inches from plant 

 to plant. The brown species is not uncommonly sown some time in 

 February ; but the white is much more tender, and is, indeed, so ticklish, 



* RadclifF, on Ihe Agriculture of East and West Flanders, p. 48. 

 f E:-se.v Rep. vol. ii. ji. 28. 



+ Surveys of Lincolnshire, 2nd edit. p. 159. SuiFulk, 3rd edit. p. 9-1. 

 § Essex Report, vol. ii. p. 63. In the Bath papers, a bushel is stated as the quautitj', 

 vol. ix. art. xiv. 



