MARCH] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 215 



PROPAGATING VARIOUS POT AND MEDICINAL HERBS. 



The latter end of this month will be a good time to plant cuttings 

 or slips of hyssop, thyme, winter savory, rue, rosemary, lavender, 

 wormwood, southern-wood, sage, and any other under-shrubby kinds; 

 in taking off the slips of any of these sorts give a preference to the 

 suckers if any, that is, such as have a few fibres attached to them ; 

 from such as are not furnished with these, take off slips or cuttings 

 of the young healthy outward shoots produced last year, from about 

 six to ten inches long, according as they occur, observing to slip or 

 cut them clean off close to the parts from whence they proceed. Let 

 these be planted in a bed or border six inches apart, and inserted 

 two-thirds of their lengths into the ground; they will take root 

 freely by observing to water them in dry weather, and in September 

 will be well rooted, and may either then, or in October, be trans- 

 planted wherever destined to remain ; or the slips may, in the first 

 instance, be planted in such places. 



Propagate tarragon, tansy, chamomile, common fennel, marsh- 

 mallows, pot-marjoram, baum, burnet, horehound, spearmint, pepper- 

 mint, feverfew, officinal scurvy-grass, catmint, celadine, pennyroyal, 

 or mentha pulegium, angelica, lovage, gromwell, and any other peren- 

 nial herbaceous plants, and also thyme, hyssop, and winter-savory, 

 by parting their roots or by slips therefrom ; the best time for sepa- 

 rating the roots of each and every of the above kinds, is just when 

 they begin to advance a little in growth. All the above kinds may 

 be planted in four feet wide beds, in any tolerably good ground, having 

 twelve to eighteen inch alleys between, and placed in rows length- 

 wise in the beds, allowing proportionate distances according to their 

 respective growths; or the small growing kinds may be planted in 

 borders, or any other convenient places that are open and well 

 exposed. 



The best time to gather any of the preceding kinds for distillation, 

 or to preserve in a dry state for medicinal purposes, &c., is when 

 they are in the first stage of their flowering. 



You may, towards the latter end of this month or any time in the 

 next, sow seeds of either, or all of the above mentioned kinds, and 

 also of the following annual plants, for medicinal and culinary pur- 

 poses, viz: borage, sweet fennel, sweet marjoram, sweet basil, sum- 

 mer savory, fenugreek, pot marigold, anise, and likewise clary, cara- 

 way, smallage, and foxglove, &c. ; the four last are biennials and do 

 not flower till the second year, but their leaves may be used at any 

 time when arrived at a sufficient size. All these seeds should be sown 

 separately in beds of rich earth, and covered from the eighth of an 

 inch to half an inch deep in proportion to their size, either in the 

 broadcast way or in drills, or the low growing kinds may be sown in 

 single drills along the edges of borders, particularly thyme, hyssop, 

 and winter savory, &c., and when the plants are arrived at a sufficient 

 size, they may be thinned and transplanted into any beds or quarters 

 that can be spared for that purpose. 



