Ch. XXVIII.] ON PHYSICAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS. 33 L 



paring it for market is not short of 10^. per acre ; which, great as it may 

 appear, is by no means extravagant if we consider the depth to which the 

 roots run, and the care which is necessary to avoid breaking or leaving any 

 of them in the ground. 



The land is then usually sown with wheat, and very good crops — 

 amounting to four or five quarters an acre — are commonly grown : indeed 

 even seven and eight quarters are said to have been frequently obtained *. 

 Th's amazing fertility has been very generally attributed, not only to the 

 ricnness of the ground, but also to the great depth to which it is stirred ; 

 but, admitting all the advantages of the spade husbandry to root crops, it 

 is not easy to perceive how a plant with such a short root as wheat can be 

 so materially benefited by the operation ; the greatness of the produce may, 

 therefore, we apprehend, be rather due to the natural state of the soil, and 

 the vast quantity of manure laid upon it, together with the decomposition 

 of weeds, and the state of garden cleanness in which it is kept during three 

 successive years. 



Peppermint, being possessed of virtues which are both highly carminative 

 and stomachic, is largely used both by the druggists and by distillers, who 

 sell it, in its liquid stale, to the dram-shops. It is indeed reared by some per- 

 sons to such extent that on the farm near Mitcham, to which we have alluded, 

 130 acres are annually grown, 50 of which are renewed every third year ; 

 for, although perennial, such is the tenderness of the plants when exposed 

 to either rain or frost, that their continuance in a perfect state cannot be 

 reckoned upon during a longer period. 



The ground must be brought into the finest tilth by frequent ploughings, 

 harrowing, and rolling ; and the dung, which should be well rotted in a 

 large quantity, should be thoroughly incorporated with the soil. The land 

 is then laid out in beds from half a rod to three-quarters wide ; and about 

 the latter end of May, or the beginning of June, slips are drawn from the 

 roots, and buried a little below the surface, and planted in rows of six or 

 eight inches apart. The expense of cultivation is very great, for the hand- 

 hoe must be almost constantly kept at work to prevent the weeds from 

 rising ; and at the close of autumn, the mould from the alleys between the 

 beds is thrown over the plants to protect them from the frost. 



The crop is annual, and is taken off about the month of August; the 

 operation being usually performed by women, who cut it with small hooks ; 

 but it is very difficult to fix the average either of the price or the produce 

 per acre, as the former varies from Al. to Ql. per ton — being now 4/. — and 

 the latter will in some years be from one and a half to four tons per acre. 



Lavender is a well-known aromatic, the flowers of which are either 

 bunched and sold about the streets by hawkers, or the greater part are dis- 

 tilled as a perfume ; in which latter case they are carried loose, when cut, 

 to the still-room, a building for which purpose is usually to be found on 

 farms which grow those herbs extensively. The seed is not usually sown, 

 but plants, or slips, are placed in rich and well-prepared beds, in the month 

 of April, and about the same time in the next year the plants are set out in 

 rows of 20 inches to 2 feet apart, carefully hoed and weeded. 



In a plantation of 20 acres, which was formerly established near Henley- 

 upon-Thames by the late Field-Marshal Conway, a chalky soil was found 

 to be not unappropriate ; but the growth was far more luxuriant on the 

 bottom than on the slope of the hill. The plants were there, however, raised 

 in rows four feet apart, and replaced, as they decayed either by age or acci- 

 * Steveusou's Survej' of Surrey, p. 381. 



