43 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



root, and separated as much as you have occasion 

 for, put it into the ground again with the head 

 just above the earth, and it will restore itself, if 

 not pulled up soon after. It ought to be planted 

 in very rich ground, otherwise it will not flourish. 

 This method of planting I am so well pleased 

 •whh that I never had any horse radish in my gar- 

 den, till I strictly pursued it, and I advise every 

 one to follow it. 



HoNEY-sucKi.ES, CaprifoUum, because the 

 pfoats eat the tender plants. The red is the 

 Italian, the pale, English; roots or cuttings will 

 produce it. They may be removed in bloom for 

 the sake of a prospect, and replaced when out of 

 bloom. 



Hyssop, Hissnpus, is a purging or cleansing 

 plant, for in the Psalms it says, "purge me with 

 hyssop," and though the hyssop of the ancients we 

 are in some respect unacquainted with, yet we 

 have reason to believe it was a low plant, for 

 Solomon is said to have described all plants from 

 the cedar to the hyssop. If propagated by seed, 

 they should be sown in poor dry land in March, in 

 bed's, and when fit should be transplanted where 

 they are to remain about two leet asunder. If 

 from cuttings, they should be planted out in April 

 or May, in a border defended from the heat of the 

 Bun. It is a hardy plant, and if not in dunged 

 ground, which makes them luxurious and feeble, 

 they will resist the severest weather. The wiri- 

 ter is thought to be the ancient hyssop, because it 

 is much demanded, and used in the eastern coun- 

 tries, in washings and purifications. 



Lavf.nder, Lavendula, a lavendo, because 

 good in washings and baihing, as it scents the 

 water and beautifies the flesh, should be propa- 

 gated from the cuttings or slips, and planted out in 

 March in a poor gravelly soil. It has been Ibund 

 that this soil suits it best, will give it more aroma- 

 tic smell, and that it will resist the winters here 

 better than in a rich soil. 



Lkttuces, Laduca, from lac, milk, they being 

 of a milky substance which is emitted when the 

 stalk is broke. There is a common garden lettuce 

 which is sown for cutting young and mixing with 

 other small salads, and is the cabbage lettuce de- 

 generated, as all seed will do that is saved from a 

 lettuce that has not cabbaged closely. These may 

 be sown at any season of the year. The cabbage 

 lettuce should be sown every month, to have a 

 succession, and drawn as all the sorts ought to be, 

 to stand at different distances, and these should 

 Btand at about ten inches asunder, and by replant- 

 WfT those that are drawn, they will head later than 

 those which stand, by which n)eans you may 

 have a succession. This sort of lettuce is the 

 worst of all the kinds in my opinion. It is most 

 watery and flashy, does not grow to the size that 

 many of the other sorts will do, and very soon 

 runs to seed. When I say the seed is to be sown 

 every month, I mean only the growing months, 

 the first of which February is esteemed, and Au- 

 gust the last. In August you should sow your 

 iiist crop, about the beginning of the month, and 

 in October, transplant them into a rich border, shel- 

 tered from the weather by a box with a lid, which 



should be opened every morning and closed in the 

 evening; and in the month of February you will 

 have fine loafed lettuces. Lettuce is a hardy plant, 

 particular the Dutch brown, and will stand most 

 of our winters, if covered only with peas or as- 

 paragus haulm, mats or straw. In order to have 

 good seed you should make choise of some of 

 your best cabbaged and largest plants, which will 

 run up to seed, and should be secured by a stick, 

 stuck into the ground; and different sorts should 

 not stand together, for the /anna will intermix 

 and prejudice each other, and none but good 

 plants should be together for seed; experience has 

 shown that the bad will vitiate the good, and the 

 seed from the plants that have stood the winter 

 are best. The seed is good at two years old, and 

 will grow at three if carefully preserved. 



The Cir.iciA, imperial white, and upright Cos 

 Lettuce, should be sown in February or beginning 

 of March, and should be drawn so as to stand, 

 Miller says, 18 inches at least distance from each 

 other, but thinks two feet much better. 



The Egyptian green Cos, and the Versailles 

 upright C^sand Ci7tcm, are most esteemed in Eng- 

 land'as the sweetest and finest, though the impe- 

 rial wants not its advocates. I, for my own part, 

 give it the preference for three reasons, the first is, 

 that it washes by fiir the easiest of any. Second, 

 that it will remain longer before it goes to seed 

 than any other except the Dutch brown; and last- 

 ly, that it is the crispest and most delicious of 

 them all. 



The Dutch brown, and green capuchin, are 

 very hardy, will stand the winters best, and re- 

 main in the heat of summer three weeks longer 

 than any before they go to seed, which renders 

 them valuable, though they are not so handsome 

 or elegant a lettuce as any of the former. They 

 may be sown as the common garden lettuce in the 

 spring, and in August as before. 



The Aleppo and Roman lettuce cabbage the 

 soonest of any, and may be propagated for that 

 reason; the first is a very spotted lettuce. Col. Lud- 

 vvell gave me some of the seed, but it did not 

 please me so well as the other more common 

 sorts; all the seed on a stalk will not ripen at the 

 same time, so you must cut your stalk when some 

 of the first seed are ripe. Mice are very fond of 

 the seed. Some lettuces show a disposition to 

 head without assistance, these should not be 

 touched, but where they throw their leaves back 

 they should be tied up, though that restrains them 

 from growing to a great size. They vvill not 

 flourish but in rich land, and if dunged, the dung 

 should not be very low, because the root of a let- 

 tuce will not go down so low as the dung is com- 

 monly spitted into the ground. The time for 

 gathering the seed is when the plants show their 

 down. Transplanting it is said contributes to- 

 wards cabbaging, butthey will cabbage, from my 

 experience, every bit as well without. By trans- 

 planting you retard the growth, and by that means 

 may have a succession. 



Marjorabi, winter, pot, and wild. Origanum, 

 from Oros gr. a mountain and ganuniai gr. to re- 

 joice, because it delights in a mountainous soil. 



