KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. ClIAP. 



forming part of the table supply, in one shape or another, 

 from the first day of January to the last day of Decem- 

 ber. Under this head, therefore, I shall be very minute 

 in my instructions, more especially as the instructions 

 under this head have been, and will be, so frequently re- 

 ferred to. FIRST, of the manner of sowing. I will speak 

 of the seed, and of the sorts and of the season for sow- 

 ing by and by ; but let me first speak of the manner of 

 sowing. This manner I have already described in great 

 part in the fourth Chapter, where I speak of the drawing 

 of drills across a seed-bed. Make a seed-bed of the 

 extent that you want, and make the earth very fine : then 

 mark it out in little drills. Drop the seed thinly along 

 these drills, put the earth back upon the seed, and press 

 it down very tightly upon it. When the seed comes up, 

 which will be very quickly, thin the plants to an inch 

 apart, or, perhaps a little more - } and do not delay this 

 work by any means -, for, small as the roots are, the 

 plants injure one another if they stand crowded for even 

 a short space of time while in the seed-leaf. At the 

 same time that you thin the plants, hoe the ground all 

 over Very nicely with a small hoe, and particularly near 

 the plants. When the plants have got four or six rough 

 leaves, they will touch one another, and ought to be re- 

 moved from the seed-bed. They are too small as yet to 

 be transferred to the spot where they are to come to per- 

 fection j but they ought now to be removed for the pur- 

 poses now presently to be mentioned. Prepare for the 

 purpose a bed three feet wide, and as long as the number 

 of your plants may require. Take up the plants with a 

 trowel or a stick, or something that will heave up the 

 earth, and prevent the breaking of the roots too much 



