274 On growing certain Crops in Drills. 



or even ten or twelve inches long : on these tallies I mark the 

 name of a plant, or a number, with white lead. From the 

 experience I have had, I am inclined to think these will 

 come cheaper, and last much longer than any made of wood. 



The slate I use is the broken waste, of which large quan- 

 tities are thrown away by slaters. These are very readily cut 

 to the dimensions required, by procuring an iron similar to 

 that used by slaters, which can be made by any blacksmith, 

 and an old bill-hook or meat cleaver may be made into a tool 

 for making the edges straight. I mark them with a camel's 

 hair pencil, similar to those used by painters in lettering; the 

 paint I get mixed in small quantities as I want it at a painter's. 

 A little practice will enable any person to cut the slate with 

 sufficient accuracy, and very soon to mark upon it with neat- 

 ness, ease, and expedition. 



The permanent label described in your Encyclopaedia of 

 Gardening (§ 1386.) may be made of the same material, and 

 a durable tie easily obtained, by using copper wire, which may 

 be procured at any ironmonger's shop. 



SuFFOLClENSIS. 



Decembers. 1826. 



Art. VII. On the best Mode of growing such Culinary 

 Vegetables as are raised annually from, Seed. By Mr. W. B. 

 Rose, Gardener to F. Canning, Esq. at Foxcote House. 



Sir, 

 The plan I adopt for growing all garden-crops usually 

 raised from seeds, and not transplanted afterwards, such as 

 turnips, carrots, onions, lettuce, radishes, &c. &c. is, to sow 

 them in drills, of different degrees of width and depth, ac- 

 cording to the size of the seeds and the plants produced. As 

 soon as they rise through the ground, I commence thinning 

 and hoeing, repeating the operation several times, especially 

 the hoeing between the rows. The advantage of frequently 

 stirring the ground about plants is known ; but it may not 

 be obvious to every one that the soil can be stirred much 

 deeper, when the hoe works along a continued straight line, 

 as it does between rows, than it can be when it works in 

 curves or irregular roundish spaces of limited extent, as it 

 does among crops sown broadcast. I sow my onions in rows 

 six inches apart, and I can stir between them to the depth 

 of nine inches or a foot if I choose ; but if they were sown 



