386 SPICES 



CHAP. 



CULTIVATION 



Coriander is cultivated from seed as an annual. It 

 is sown broadcast in sandy loam, or black soil. The 

 sowing takes place in the cold or rainy season ; sown 

 in October, it ripens in January ; occasionally sown 

 in the month of June, ripening in September as a 

 garden crop. When the weather is dry, it requires 

 watering. No particular care seems to be taken with 

 it. The fruits are merely gathered and dried. 



The system of cultivation in Essex, England, used to 

 be as follows : The seed was sown with caraways, 

 but, being an annual, was gathered the first year, the 

 caraways being left in the ground. The seedling plants 

 were hoed, so as to leave those that remained in rows 

 10 to 12 in. apart. In the autumn it was cut with 

 sickles, and thrashed out on a cloth in the field. On 

 the best land 1 5 cwt. per acre was a good crop. 



In India, the fruit is rubbed in the hand till the 

 two mericarps are separated, and sown broadcast. It 

 germinates about the third day, and only requires 

 weeding once or twice. It fruits in about four weeks. 

 It is then pulled up and beaten with sticks on the floor 

 or trodden by bullocks. It is dried in the sun for a 

 day or two, and packed in bags. 



It sells in Singapore for 3 or 4 cents per lb., and 

 there is a large demand for it, as it is an essential 

 ingredient in curries. 



DILL 



Dill, commonly known in the East Indies as cake 

 seed, is the fruit of Peucedanum graveolens, L., an 

 annual herb of the order Umbdliferae. The stem is 

 from 1 to 3 ft. tall, slightly branched, finely striated. 

 The leaves are stalked with the petiole flattened, the 

 blade tripinnate or even more cut up with very fine 

 segments, narrow, and light green. The small yellow 

 flowers are borne in long-stalked umbels, 2 to 4 in. 

 across. The fruit is about \ in. long or less, broadly 



