218 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. [MARCH 



will be fit for use. It is true they may be taken up the first year, 

 but then the roots will be slender; therefore it is the better way to 

 let them remain till the second, when they will be in a fine condition ; 

 and if in taking up the roots you take care to leave some offsets still 

 remaining, you will have a successional supply for many years. 



LIQUORICE. 



The glycyrrhiza glabra, or cultivated liquorice, is a plant that 

 brings enormous profit to the industrious cultivator : it is of consider- 

 able importance in medicine, and consequently in great demand by 

 the druggists and apothecaries ; and also by porter brewers, being a 

 very material ingredient in that article. Of 4000 quintals, or nearly 

 two hundred tons, annually exported from Spain, the far greater part 

 is considered to be purchased by the porter brewers of London. 

 About Pontefract, in Yorkshire, England, where it is cultivated in 

 great perfection, an acre of well-grown liquorice is considered to be 

 worth one hundred pounds sterling ; therefore, due attention should 

 be paid to its culture in the United States, where it will grow to the 

 greatest possible perfection ; thereby to prevent the necessity of im- 

 porting large quantities of it annually from Europe, at a considerable 

 expense, and in a much inferior condition to what it could be had if 

 cultivated at home. In hopes that this may be attempted by some 

 spirited persons, who may have the welfare of their country, as well 

 as their own at heart, I shall proceed to give the method of bringing 

 this valuable plant to the utmost perfection. 



The liquorice delights in a light sandy rich soil, which should be 

 three feet deep at least, for the goodness as well as the profits arising 

 from the culture of this plant is proportionate to the size and length 

 of its roots. The ground in which you intend to plant it should be 

 highly manured and well dug the autumn before, that the dung may 

 be perfectly rotted and mixed with the earth. Immediately previous 

 to planting, trench the ground three spades deep, if the natural soil 

 be good that depth, and lay it very light. When your ground is 

 thus prepared you should furnish yourself with fresh plants, taken 

 from the sides or heads of the old roots, observing that each has one 

 or two good buds or eyes, otherwise they are subject to miscarry. 

 These plants should be from six to ten inches long, and perfectly 

 sound. 



The best season for planting them in the middle States is the latter 

 end of March, or just when their buds begin to show symptoms of 

 fresh vegetation, which must be done in the following manner, viz : 

 first strain a line across the ground, then with a long dibble put in 

 the roots so that the whole plant may be set straight in the ground, 

 with the top about an inch under the surface, in a straight line, and 

 about a foot or a little more asunder, and two feet distance from row 

 to row. You may then sow a thin crop of radishes, onions, lettuces, 

 or any other small-growing crops, in drills, between the rows, keep- 

 ing the whole clean, particularly the rising plants of liquorice, during 

 the summer and autumn. In the November following, you should 

 carefully hoe and clean the ground. The shoots and leaves being 



