330 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXVIII. 



pigs : by which operation the female plants have more room to grow and 

 perfect their seed. The crop is pulled up when ripe, and either thrashed in 

 the field on a cloth, or carried to the barn. The produce is from two to 

 five quarters per acre." 



PHYSICAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS 



are grown to so great an extent for the consumption of our large towns, 

 that some very intelligent ajrriculturists devote themselves solely to their 

 culture : indeed we know of one in the county of Surrey, — Mr. Moore, the 

 very respectable owner of the manor of Mitcham, — who occupies nearly 5U0 

 acres of land chiefly in the cultivation of single and double chamomile, 

 liquorice root, peppermint, and lavender. The soil proper for their growth 

 should be deep and friable ; for some of them strike their roots several feet 

 into the ground, and it is rendered rich by an unlimited application of manure 

 procured from the neighbourhood, as none can be raised upon the land on 

 which they are grown. Some of the plants also require three or even four years 

 to perfect their growth ; and they must, during all that time, be managed 

 with the attention usually bestowed on garden culture : the expense of culti- 

 vation is, therefore, very great, and when added to the necessarily confined 

 limits of the districts in which it can be conveniently carried on, must ever 

 prevent it from becoming an object of speculation with the general fai'mer ; 

 wherefore, a slight sketch of the different articles already enumerated is all 

 that we here think requisite. 



Ckamomile is a perennial which should be grown on a light, dry, sandy 

 loam, made extremely clean. The ground should be set out in beds of 4 

 feet wide, with 18 inch alleys between, and on these beds the sets ought to 

 be planted about 8 or 9 inches asunder, and kept carefully hand-weeded. 

 The flowers come to perfection in the first summer, and generally produce 

 crops of from 2 to 4 cwt. per acre, provided the summer be not very wet ; for 

 rain both injures the plant, and weakens the flavour of the flower. The 

 crop is gathered by women, who are generally paid at the rate of one penny 

 per lb. ; the wholesale price to the druggist being usually about 5/. per cwt. 



In November, or the early part of December, the beds having been 

 weeded, the alleys are dug, and the roots are covered with the mould, both 

 to refresh and to preserve them from the frost. 



Liquorice requires a very rich and deep soil, as its roots frequently pene- 

 trate a yard, where the ground is naturally open and loose to that depth : 

 the land should therefore be either trench-ploughed, or rather dug two-spade 

 deep. The manure should be spit-dung laid on at the rate of 20 double cart 

 loads per acre, merely spread and pointed in with the spade. The ground 

 is then lined out in rows 2 feet asunder, and small triangular holes are made 

 with the spade for the reception of the plants at 15 inches to 1^ foot asunder. 

 The plants consist of shoots taken from the heads and sides of the old roots ; 

 and in order to secure their growth, none are planted but such as have 

 several eyes, March is the most usual season for putting in the shoots, and 

 the ground must be weeded and stirred about the plants, during each suc- 

 ceeding autumn. 



Liquorice requires three years to perfect its growth, when the roots are 

 taken up about the end of November with the spade ; they are then washed, 

 the fibres trimmed off", and the smaller roots, which are termed " offal,'' are 

 separated from the larger. The latter are dried and ground into powder ; 

 but the larger roots, which form the principal article of profit, are packed up 

 and sold to the druggists. A fair crop will yield from 18 to 20 cwt., at an 

 average price of about 45*. per cwt. ; but the expense of digging up and pre- 



