APRIL.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 321 



Garden Or ache. 



The ^triplex hortensis^ or Garden Orache, is cultivated for culi- 

 nary purposes, being used as spinach, and is by some persons pre- 

 ferred to it. The French particularly, are very partial to this plant. 

 There are three or four varieties of it, differing only in colour ; 

 one is of a deep green, another of a dark purple, and a third with 

 green leaves and purple borders. The green leaved variety, how- 

 ever, is that cultivated, as an esculent herb, and is sown at the same 

 time, and treated in every respect like spinach. 



Caraway* 



The Carum Carui, or common caraway, is a biennial plant : 

 it produces its seed, which is highly aromatic and grateful to the 

 stomach, the second year after sowing, and then generally dies. 

 It may now be sown on a bed, either broad-cast and raked in, or in. 

 drills, and covered half an inch deep ; when up, thin the plants to six 

 inches distance, and in the June twelve months following, it will 

 produce its seed. Some of the plants that have not seeded abun- 

 dantly, will continue to bear, the second season. Young plants, 

 rise in abundance, where the seeds fall when ripe, and these will 

 shoot and produce seed the following summer. 



Destroy Weeds. 



Weeds will now begin to appear plentifully, from seed, in every 

 part of the garden. The utmost diligence should be used to de- 

 stroy them, while they are young, before they get the start of the 

 crops ; especially towards the middle and latter end of the month ; 

 when, if a forward season, they, will be advancing in a rapid growth. 



Pay particular regard, at this time, to your small crops ; as 

 onions, carrots parsneps, and the like ; weeds grow much quicker 

 than they do ; and if they are not wed in time, either by small hoe- 

 ing, or hand-weeding, such will occasion much labour and trouble 

 to clear them, and sometimes, totally, destroy the crops. 



Take the opportunity of dry weather, and hoe the ground be- 

 tween the rows of beans, peas, cabbages, cauliflowers', and other 

 crops that stand wide, to destroy the weeds. 



A large piece of ground may soon be gone over with a hoe, 

 when the weeds are small ; but when they are permitted to grow 

 large, it requires double labour to destroy them. 



Madder. 



The Rubia tinctorum^ or dyer's madder, being an article of much 

 importance in manufactures, Sec. ought to command some atten- 

 tion, in the United States ; where it will grow, to as good perfec- 

 tion, as in any country on earth. It is not wise, in a nation, to be 

 under the necessity of importing articles, of considerable consump- 



T t 



