SWEET HEKBS. 143 



As soon as the plants are in full flower, you can begin to 

 cut and market the crop. Where the rows are only a foot 

 apart, the best way is to cut out every other row. Tie 

 tiie sage in bunches and market it, leaving the other 

 rows to grow larger. If the land is rich, the plants 

 which are left will continue to grow late into the fall, and 

 completely cover the land. After cutting out every other 

 row, run the cultivator between the remaining rows and 

 hoe out the weeds. Where the plants are set out in rows, 

 twenty-one inches to two feet apart, and the land kept 

 clean and mellow by the frequent use of the horse-hoe, 

 the total money return is not so great as that from the 

 double crop, but it is far less labor, and in the field-gar- 

 den will be the better plan. If the sage can not be sold 

 green in the market, tie it up into bunches and let it dry; 

 it can then be safely shipped to any distance. 



THYME. 



The cultivation of Thyme is similar to that of Sage. 

 The seeds are smaller and the plants 

 not quite so vigorous. The soil where 

 the seed is sown should be made even 

 richer and finer than for Sage, and 

 the seed must not be covered more 

 than an eighth of an inch deep, and 

 the bed well patted with the back of 

 the spade. In all other respects 

 Thyme may be treated precisely as 

 Sage. If preferred, the seed may be 

 sown where the plants are intended 

 to remain. Sow in rows twenty-one 

 inches apart, and drill in the seed as 

 shallow as possible, dropping three or four seeds to each 

 inch of row. It will be necessary to mix the seed with 

 three or four times its bulk of fine dry sand, or the drill 



