328 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXVIII. 



The mode of operation with the three crops collectively, as described by 

 Mr. Sewell, of Maplestead, in Essex, is as follows : — 



'' About the beginning of March, plough some old pasture land, the soil 

 of which should be a very strong clay loam. Mix together 10 lbs. of 

 coriander, 12 lbs. of carraway, and 12 lbs. of teasel seeds, which is sufficient 

 for an acre ; sow directly after the plough, and harrow the land well. When 

 the plants appear of sufficient strength to bear the hoe — which will be in 

 about ten weeks after tlie sowing — it must not be omitted ; and in the 

 course of the summer it will require three hoeings, as well as one at 

 Michaelmas. The coriander is fit to cut about the beginning of July, and 

 should be thrashed on a cloth like cole-seed." 



" About the April following, your teasel and carraway will want a good 

 hoeing, done deep and well, and another hoeing about the beginning of 

 June. The carraway will be fit to cut the beginning of July, and must be 

 thrashed in the same manner as coriander. The teasel will not be ready 

 till the middle of September; and some of the plants do not perfect their 

 seeds until the third or fourth year, when those heads which are beginning to 

 turn brown are cut off the stem witli a stalk a foot long. Of these, 25 are 

 tied in a bunch ; 24 of the bunches are fixed on a small stick, and called 

 * a row,' 24 of which make a load, equal in bulk to about a ton of hay. 



"The goodness of the crops must chiefly depend upon the care employed 

 in their cultivation ; and as the land can only be filled with plants, it is 

 evident that the more one kind predominates the less can be reasonably 

 expected from those which succeed : accordingly, the product of carraway 

 is much greater without, than with teasel *''. 



CUMMIN AND ANISE. 



The former is a plant which also does not produce its seeds until the 

 second year, and as it requires a rich, and, consequently, high-rented soil, 

 the double rent adds heavily to its culture. It is, therefore, only rarely 

 grown in this country, though the climate suits it; but as the seed is 

 entensively used by distillers, it is an object of considerable attention among 

 the farmers of Germany, who lessen the expense of its cultivation by grow- 

 ing it, either broad-cast among spring-corn, or transplanting it among 

 alternate rows of cabbage, parsnip, or beet-root. In the latter case, the 

 beds are not unfrequently prepared in autumn, and the plants raised upon 

 them are set out some time in the beginning of the following month of May. 

 If sown with corn, the plants are iioed out to regular distances when the 

 crop has been reaped, and the cummin should afterwards be diligently 

 cleared of weeds, and top-dressed with some stimulating species of manure. 

 "When ripe, the crop may be either mown, or carefully pulled up, and carried 

 with the same precaution, to avoid the shedding of the seed, as is necessary 

 with those of coriander and carraway, and it should be thrashed in a similar 

 manner f. 



Aiiise, though also much employed by the distillers, and perfecting its 

 seeds in the same year about the month of August, is yet a plant of such a 

 delicate nature that it is easily injured by the slightest frost, and as several 

 attempts to bring it to perfection have in this country failed J, it evidently 

 requires a more genial climate, or a very warm exposure. 



* Survey of Essex, vol. ii. p. 63. 



•j- "Von Ihaer, Princ. Eais. d' Agile, Slide edit, tom.iv. J 1226, 



1 Bath Papers, vol. iv. p. 279, 



