95 



DIBBLE. DILL. 



in sufficient luxuriance by the sides of hedges and dry 

 ditches. It might easily be propagated either by seeds or 

 roots ; and, if introduced as a garden plant, should have a 

 rich, deep soil, and be carefully tied up and earthed round 

 to blanch it effectually. Cut off all the flowers as they 

 appear, to prevent the dispersion of the seed, and the weak- 

 ening of the plant. When salad is scarce, the dandelion 

 might be dug up from road-sides in winter, and forced in 

 pots like succory. 



" Use. — The leaves in early spring, when just unfolding, 

 afford a very good ingredient in salads. The French some- 

 times eat the young roots, and the etiolated [blanched or 

 Vvhitened] leaves with thin slices of bread and butter. 

 When blanched, the leaves considerably resemble those of 

 endive in taste. The root is considered an equally good 

 substitute for coffee as chiccory, and may, like that plant, 

 be stored in cellars and barrels, for producing winter salad." 

 — Ceded. Hort. Mem. iv. 138. In this country, the dan- 

 delion has, w^e believe, been used for greens, or pot-herbs 

 only, and we have never known it subjected to cultivation. 



DIBBLE — a tool used by gardeners and farmers in Eu- 

 rope, chiefly in transplanting. It consists of a stick about 

 a foot or eighteen inches long, slightly sharpened at the 

 end, with which a hole is made to receive the plant or 

 seed. It may be made of the upper part of an old spade 

 or shovel handle, sharpened a little at the lower end. The 

 common dibble is about eighteen inches long. The long 

 dibble, used for potatoes, is about three and a half feet 

 long. 



The following method of making holes for beans has 

 been recommended, viz. — Take a plank of oak, of such size 

 as a man can easily manage, by a handle fixed upright in 

 the middle of it, and of such thickness as not to give way 

 in working ; in the under pa.rt of this plank let there be 

 fixed wooden pegs of such length, and at such distance from 

 each other, as may form proper holes in the ground for the 

 beans : when the land has been properly prepared, the 

 workman must thrust the pegs of this instrument into the 

 ground, and proceed sideways, m^anaging it so that there 

 may be the same distance between the last row of holes 

 made by the first impression and the first row made by the 

 next, as there is betv* een the rows of any one impression. 

 The youngest children may be taught to follow the instru- 

 ment, and droD a bean into every hole that it makes. 



DlWu, - Jinethum graveolens. — Dili is a haidy biennial 



