Ch. XXVIII.] ON CORIANDER AND CARRAWAY. 327 



plants will only answer upon a strong soil ; but, if the land be fresh, they do 

 not require much manure, and are therefore frequently grown upon that which 

 has been pared and burnt, as well as upon land ploughed out of the swarlli*. 



The seed is sown about May-day, at the rate of one to two pecks per 

 acre. In Somersetshire and in Yorkshire, where the crop is generally, 

 and perhaps more judiciously, sown alone, the cidlivation is as follows : — 



During the summer the land is worked over three or four times with long 

 narrow spades to destroy the weeds ; and in the month of November, if the 

 plants are too thick, they are drawn out to fill up vacancies, and the crop 

 is set out at a foot distance. If after this thinning many plants remain, 

 another piece of ground is generally prepared, into which they are trans- 

 planted ; but those which are never removed produce the best heads. In 

 the month of July of the following year, the uppermost heads begin to 

 bloom, and so soon as the blossom falls they are ripe. The gathering is 

 performed at three different times ; a man, with a knife made for the pur- 

 pose, cuts the heads which are ripe, and ties them up in handfuls ; after a 

 fortnight, he goes over the ground again ; and at a third cutting the busi- 

 ness is completed. On the day of cutting thev are carried into the barn, 

 and if the air be clear they are taken out daily and exposed to the sun 

 until they are completely dry ; or temporary sheds are erected in tlie field, 

 in which the crop is suspended and dried; but great care must be taken to 

 avoid their exposure to rain. When quite dry, they are separated into 

 different parcels — called ' kings,' ' middlings,' and ' scrubs ;' and are after 

 that made into ' packs,' containing 9U0O kings, and 20,000 middlings: the 

 scrubs are of but little value. The produce is often 15 or 16 packs an acre ; 

 but there is a great inequality in the plants, and sometimes the crop pre- 

 sents a total blank t. 



CORIANDER AND CARRAWAY 



are sometimes sown together without being joined with teasel ; for the 

 carraway, requiring two years to perfect its seed, is sown along with the 

 coriander, and sometimes with corn, in the same manner as clover is with 

 barley. The young plants of coriander resemble those of the parsnip, but 

 the carraway, is like that of a carrot, and from the care and attention 

 requisite in distinguishing and setting out the plants, the hoeing is an 

 expensive operation. The seeds have an aromatic flavour, and meet with a 

 ready sale among the rectifiers of spirituous liquors, druggists, and confec- 

 tioners, who employ it for the various purposes of their respective trades. 

 On good land they are also often very productive, but great care is neces- 

 sary in securing them when ripe ; for which purpose women and children 

 are employed to cut the plants separately, and put them into cloths, in 

 which they are immediately carried to some convenient spot, either in the 

 same field or the barn, where, being thrashed upon a sail-clolh, they are 

 separated from the haulm by a few strokes of the flail, and being spread 

 upon the granary floor to avoid heating, they are afterwards winnowed at 

 any leisure moment. Both, when sown on rich old leys, are very produc- 

 tive ; coriander having frequently produced 24 cwt. and carraway 20 cwt. 

 of seed per acre. The crops are, however, very precarious, and sometimes 

 do not produce more than 6 or 7 cwt. J ; the prices also varying, accord 

 mg to the season, from 10s. to 50s. per cwt. 



* Tuke's N. R. of Yorksh., p. 166. 



f Billingsley's Survey of Somersetsh., 3rd edit., p. 110. 



X Essex Report, vol. ii. p. 61. In the papers of the Bath Society, some experiments are 

 mentioned upon the sowing of coriander alone, without any other crop, upon a good 

 sandy loam, the produce of which in no instance exceeded II5 cwt. 



