, TANSY THISTLE. 213 



thinned as to stand in single plants; a fresh 

 hoeing and further thinning of the drills, to the 

 distance of ahandbreadth,being reserved till spring. 

 The round-leafed variety may be sown any time 

 from the first of February, when the ground is dry, 

 till the season for sowing the winter crop. There 

 is a wild sort, which grows every where as a weed, 

 and may be known by a beautiful purple meal, of 

 changing hue like the dove's neck, with which the 

 heart of the leaf is sprinkled: it is said when culti- 

 vated to be nothing inferior to the garden spinach. 

 Plants designed for seed should be thinned to the 

 distance of eight or ten inches. This is the only 

 vegetable in common use that has the male and 

 female flowers on different plants a circumstance 

 which causes no trouble in the raising of seed, as 

 it is sure to happen that of a considerable number 

 of plants there will be some of both sexes. 



Tansy. Used for puddings, etc., is propagated 

 by parting the roots. Care must be taken not to 

 place it near to any box edging or gravel walk. 



Thistle. Needlessly brought into gardens, as it 

 is ready enough to come of its own accord. Several 

 varieties have been cultivated, and of course have 

 not been spared the labours of the pen as they have 

 engaged those of the spade. It is said of the milk 

 thistle, which is a native variety, that its stalks, 

 in the second year of its cultivation, being peeled 

 and steeped in water, lose a portion of their bitter- 

 ness; and of the cotton thistle, another pest of the 

 fields, that with due attention to thinning, hoeing, 



