TIME OF SOWING GENERAL CULTIVATION. 239 



otherwise they spoil the sample, and reduce its market 

 value. When the young plants are well up in the drills, 

 they should be "bunched" and singled out in the way 

 described in the turnip crop (p. 303, vol. i.), to distances 

 of 6 to 9 inches in the drills, after which the hoe should 

 be regularly used to keep down the weeds. In some places 

 they are grown in a seed-bed and transplanted; this is, how- 

 ever, a very expensive mode of growing, and has nothing 

 but the old practice of the garden to cause its retention. 



In October and .November the work of harvesting the 

 crop is commenced, and may be carried on at convenient 

 opportunities during the winter months. As each root 

 has to be carefully lifted, so that no portion be broken 

 off and left in the ground, the operation is both tedious 

 and expensive. The fork recommended for use, and de- 

 scribed in the Carrot and Parsnip Crops (page 8), would 

 be found a very efficient tool for this purpose, and the 

 assistance of a boy to pull would aid the labour of 

 the digger very materially. The subsoil plough has been 

 used for the purpose; this no doubt reduces the cost of 

 labour very considerably, but the roots are never so well 

 got up as by forking, which at the same time, by deep 

 stirring the soil, leaves it in a far better condition for the 

 succeeding crop. It is not only a matter of importance to 

 the produce of the present crop that the whole of the roots 

 should be carefully got up, but also to future crops grown 

 on the same ground, as the chicory, being a perennial, indi- 

 genous plant or "weed," will be sure to make its appear- 

 ance the following year, should any portions of the roots 

 be left behind in the soil. This indeed is one of the great 

 drawbacks to its cultivation. The roots are carefully 

 trimmed on the field, carted home at once, washed, and 

 either sold in that fresh state to the dealer, who under- 

 takes the subsequent processes of manufacture; or they 

 are sliced and kiln- dried, and then sold, by which process 



