448 CORIANDER AND CARAWAY CROPS. 



sessing the same habits of growth and the same food re- 

 quirements, is open to great objections. Their success 

 would, in all probability, be far more certain, and their 

 produce more satisfactory, were they grown as separate 

 crops ; or if it were .desirable to occupy the caraway land 

 profitably during its first year, beans, or any other erect, 

 quick-growing annual, could be substituted with advantage 

 for the coriander of the present system. 



The seed should be drilled towards the end of March 

 or the beginning of April. About 20 Ibs. are sufficient 

 to the acre, and about the same distances should be kept 

 between the drills and the distances of the plant apart in 

 the rows, as with the coriander crop. The land requires 

 to be well stirred and the weeds kept down by the hoes ; 

 and in the autumn the herbage may be fed off with sheep, 

 who are exceedingly fond of it, and always thrive upon 

 it. Care must be taken, however, that it be not fed down 

 too close, as if the crown of the root be injured the plants 

 are likely to suffer, or perhaps be destroyed, by the 

 winter's frosts. In the spring the land requires to be 

 stirred as early as possible between the rows, and the 

 weeds destroyed. The flowering takes place towards the 

 end of June, and in about a month afterwards the seed is 

 ready to be harvested. The operations of cutting, which 

 is done with the hook, and of carrying, require great 

 care, as the seed parts very readily from the stem, and is 

 liable to be left on the ground, to the lessening of the pro- 

 duce. The stems should be left lying on the stubbles until 

 quite dry, and should then be removed for thrashing early 

 in the morning, when the dew is on the pods; this prevents 

 them shedding the seed, which may be thrashed out on the 

 field in the usual manner. After the seed is thrashed out, 

 it should be left for three or four days thinly spread on the 

 barn floor, or other suitable place, in order to get com- 

 pletely dry, when it may be winnowed and sent to market. 



