200 History of the Author's 



been kept perfectly free from weeds the preceding year. At this season little in- 

 jiyy may be expected from insects, which are yet unformed or torpid. As soon as 

 the rough leaf of the plant appears, if the weadier should become frosty, a mixture 

 of finely powdered compost consisting of fresh earth, and rotten dung, or ofFal and 

 blood from the shambles, is lightly scattered over them.* The same operation is 

 frort) time to time repeated, as long as the frosts continue. If, in the middle of 

 March, the weather should be dry, without frost, a gentle watering is now and then 

 given them; and this watering is employed every day under the same circum- 

 stances, as the season advances. When they are two or three inches above ground, 

 they are thinned, if too thick, and carefully weeded ; and a liquid, consisting of 

 sheep's dung, steeped in water, is once a week poured over them. If this method 

 be uniformly pursued, it is highly probable that, in almost any season, the plants 

 will, by Midsummer, be from eight inches to a foot in height. If the season has 

 been at all moist, and otherwise favourable, they would, indeed, be fit for final 

 transplantation by the latter end of May ; and it would be very conducive to the 

 weight of the crop, if the ground were prepared for them by that period. But, as we 

 are seldom ready before the latter end of June, or the beginning of July, the plants 

 if too much disposed to shoot in May, should be then pricked out, at 6 or 8 inches 

 distance from each other, into a deep, well-manured, and clean piece of ground, 

 in which, at their first setting, they should be once or twice well watered, if the 

 weather prove dry. They will there strengthen themselves, gain fresh roots, and 

 grow in bulk as well as height, till they are finally transplanted into the open field. 

 The sooner this operation is performed, the better; and no crop can be depended 

 on which is not planted out, at the latest, by the very beginning of July. The plants 

 should be set at three feet distance, in the quincunx form, upon earth turned over 

 fresh long dung placed in the furrow, and should afterwards be horse-hoed, and 

 otherwise cleaned, in the manner described by Mr. Young, in his Farmer's Calen- 

 dar, and other well-known publications. If the weather should be very dry at the 

 period of final transplantation, it would, I think, be best, at all events, to perform 

 that work, and trust to the well watering of the plants, rather than lose the time, 

 which, at this season, is so precious, t 



* Powdered pigeons' dung, or night soil, where they could be procured, would probably be 

 excellent for this purpose, mixed with an equal quantity of fiesh mould. 



t Some time after writing the above paragraph, I had a fair opportunity of making a compa- 



