930 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and in a very sudden manner : and besides the most forward and luxuriant vines art ...c most subject to be 

 affected. It has been suggested, that in exposures where the crops are particularly liable to injury, it may 

 be advisable to plant thinner, to keep back the growth of the plants as much as possible, by extirpating 

 all the most forward shoots, and to employ a less proportion of the earthy compost in their culture. 



6064. In respect to the duty on hops, it is best for the planter to have the acts before 

 him. But every grower of hops in Britain is legally obliged to give notice to the excise, 

 on or before the first day of September, of the number of acres he has in cultivation, the 

 situation and number of his oasts, and the place or places of bagging, which, with the 

 store-rooms, or warehouses, in which the packages are intended to be lodged, are entered 

 by the revenue officer. No hops can be removed from the rooms thus entered, before 

 they have been weighed and marked by a revenue officer ; who marks, or ought to mark, 

 not only the weight, but the name and residence of the grower, upon each package. 



SuBSECT. 2. Culture of the Coriander and Caraway. (Jig. 804. a, 6.) 



6065. The coriander {Coridndrum sativum L., Jig. 804. a) is a small-rooted annual, 



with branchy stems rising from one foot to one 

 foot and a half in height. It is a native of the 

 south of Europe, and appears to be naturalised 

 in some parts of Essex, where it has been long 

 cultivated. It flowers in June and July, and the 

 seeds ripen in July and August. 



6066. Tfie culture and management of coriander consist 

 in sowing it on a light rich soil in September, with seeds 

 ripened the same year. Twenty pounds of seed will sow an 

 acre. When the plants come up, thin them to six or eight 

 inches' distance every way, and, next spring, stir the soil 

 with a pronged hoe. " In August the seed will be ripe, and 

 if great care be not used, the largest and best part of it will 

 be lost. To prevent this, women and children are em- 

 ployed to cut plant by plant, and to put them immediately 

 into cloths, in which they are carried to some convenient 

 part of the field, and there threshed upon a sail-cloth. A 

 few strokes of the flail get the seeds clean out, and the 

 threshers are ready for another bundle in a few minutes. 

 In Essex it is sometimes cultivated with caraway and 

 teazle. (See Caraway.) 



6067. The produce of coriander is from ten to fourteen 

 cwt. on an acre. It is used by the distillers for flavouring 

 spirits, by the confectioners for encrusting with sugar, and 



by the druggists for various purposes j for all of which it is said to have a ready sale. 



6068. The caraway {Cdrum Cdrui, b) is a biennial plant with a taper root, like 

 a parsnep, but much smaller, running deep into the ground. The stems rise from 

 eighteen inches to two feet, with spreading branches and finely cut deep green leaves. 

 It is a native of England, in rich meadows in Lincolnshire and other places, and has 

 been long cultivated in Essex. It flowers in May and June, and the seeds ripen in 

 autumn. 



6069. The culture and management are the same as those of coriander. In all probability both plants 

 would answer if sown like clover among a crop of corn ; and hoed and thinned when the crop was removed, 

 and again in the following spring. The method of culture in Essex is, about the beginning of March to 

 plough some old pasture land : if it has been pasture for a century the better ; and the soil should be a very 

 strong clayey loam. Twelve pounds of caraway seed are mixed with ten pounds of coriander, and twelve 

 pounds of teasel seed : this is sufficient for one acre ; and is sowed directly after the plough, harrowing the 

 land well. When the plants appear of sufficient strength to bear the hoe, which will not be until about ten 

 weeks after sowing, it must not be omitted ; and in the course of the summer, the crop will require three 

 hoeings, besides one at Michaelmas. The coriander being annual, will be fit to cut about the beginning 

 cf July. It is left in the field after cutting, and threshed on a cloth in the same manner as rape 

 seed. About April following the caraway and teasel will want a good hoeing done deep and well ; and 

 another about the beginning of June. The caraway will be fit to cut in thebeginningof July, and must be 

 threshed in the same manner as the coriander. This compound crop is mostly sown on land, so strong as 

 to require being a little exhausted to make it fit for corn. Caraway and coriander are oflener sown with- 

 out teasel : the latter being a troublesome and uncertain crop, and the produce of caraway much greater 

 without it. 



6070. The produce of caraway, on the very rich old leys in the hundreds or low lands of Essex, has 

 often amounted to twenty cwt. an acre. There is always a demand for the seed in the London market. 



6071. The uses of the caraway are the same as those of coriander, and its oil and other preparations 

 are more used in medicine. Dr. Anderson says, both the roots and tops may be given to cattle in 

 spring, 



SuBSECT. 3. Plants which may be substituted for Brewery and Distillery Plants. 

 6072. .As substitutes for hops, we may mention the common box ( J5uxus sempervirens), 

 the leaves and twigs of which are said to be extensively used in all the beer brewed in 

 Paris. The marsh trefoil (Menydnthes trifoliata) is much employed in Germany, and 

 on the Continent generally ; and, it is said, was formerly used in this country. One 

 ounce of the dried leaves is considered equivalent to half a pound of hops. The plant is 

 of easy culture in moist soil : all the plants of the same natural order, GentidnecB, and 

 especially the different species of Gentiona, might be used in the same manner, more 

 particularly the G. liitea, riibra, and piu-purea. In Switzerland, a spirit is distilled from 

 the roots of G. lutea. The dried roots of Geum urbanum, common in hedges, are sliced, 



