

jgg CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



more productive still farther to the south, particularly in many 

 of the West India Islands where it is indigenous. 



A bushel of seed of this plant is sufficient for five acres. 

 The ground is first to be properly mellowed with the plough, 

 and then harrowed, when the seeds may be sown with a drill 

 in rows, at the distance of about twelve or fourteen inches 

 apart, in a manner very similar to that which is directed for 

 the culture of onions. Nicholson's Farmer's Assistant. 



V. BASTARD SAFFRON. 



THE bastard saffron, Carthamus tinctorius, is an annual 

 plant, rising with a stiff ligneous stalk, two feet and a half or 

 three feet high, dividing upwards into many branches. It is 

 a native of Asia. Sown in April, it flowers in July and Au- 

 gust, and its seeds ripen in autumn. The dye produced is of 

 two kinds a yellow and red. It is cultivated in various parts 

 of Europe, especially in Germany; very extensively in Egypt 

 and the Levant, whence great quantities are annually imported 

 into England and France for painting and dyeing. The seeds 

 yield an oil which is used in medicine and painting. 



According to LOUDON, the soil it requires is light, and the 

 preparation and culture, according to VON THAER, equal to 

 that of the garden. Gen. ARMSTRONG says, it succeeds but in 

 rich friable black earth, or in one of a dark red or chocolate 

 colour. The seed is sown in rows, or deposited in patches 

 two feet apart each way; and in the process of early culture, 

 they are thinned out so that only two or three remain together. 

 The soil is to be well stirred and kept free of weeds. In Au- 

 gust the flowers begin to expand; the petals of the florets are 

 then to be cut off, and dried in the shade or on a kiln. They 

 are then ready for market. This operation is best performed 

 in the early part of the day, and may be continued daily until 

 October, when the plants are to be pulled up, sheaved and 

 shocked, and threshed for their seeds. The stalks are burnt 

 for manure. The flowers of this plant always precedes the 

 leaves. 



A vast number of other plants could be enumerated as yield- 

 ing dyes, and capable of being cultivated for that purpose. 

 The colours they yield are more or less valued for their per- 

 manence and beauty. 



