286 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



spade, and afterwards f covered with about two 

 inches of earth from out of the alleys. 



In about a fortnight or three weeks the plants 

 will make their appearance; and should they rise 

 in clusters, they must be carefully thinned out by 

 the hand to an inch or so apart ; when of more 

 strength, they must be hoed out to the distance of 

 three or four inches. They will want but little to 

 be done to them during the summer, except the hoe 

 occasionally, to keep them free from weeds ; and in 

 winter, after clearing them of their decayed leaves, 

 a little earth should be thrown over them. 



After one year's growth the seedlings will be 

 found to have made strong healthy plants, and early 

 in spring, ground should be prepared for those 

 that are to be finally planted in ridges. For that 

 purpose, a recently-manured and trenched piece of 

 ground (the latter to the depth of fifteen or eighteen 

 inches) should be chosen, where, after having a 

 good coat of well-consumed manure forked in 

 (which mixes it better with the earth than the 

 spade), and the ground properly levelled, beds 

 should be marked out four feet wide, with eighteen 

 inch alleys. In the centre of each bed a line should 

 be drawn, where the strongest plants, after being 

 carefully taken up, are to be planted at two feet and 

 a half from each other, taking care that the crown 

 of the plant is set two inches below the surface of 

 the bed, to allow for the future rising of the crowns, 

 which they are inclined to do more or less every 

 year, being a lasting plant, and producing as strong 

 shoots or sprouts at edght or ten years old as they 

 did at three or four. 



