518 The Method of Rearing Seed, in the East Indies. 



blossoms acquire a size larger than ordinary, and the seed 

 they produce is likewise large and vigorous, and superabun- 

 dant in quantity. 



Innumerable roots are thrown out from the incised edges 

 of these plants, they consequently receive a greater abun- 

 dance of nourishment, which occasions their luxuriant growth, 

 causes them to yield not only a more than an ordinary crop 

 of seed, but also of a superior quality. 



The gardeners in the Mysore country, where I resided, 

 consider the early part of January to be the most advisable 

 time for putting these plants into the ground ; the seed of the 

 Turnips will there be collected at the end of the third, and 

 that of Carrots at the conclusion of the fourth month after- 

 wards. The weather throughout this period is generally dry 

 in that part of India, the steady dry heat which usually pre- 

 vails there in March and April, matures and perfects the seed, 

 which is formed previously to the appearance of such winged 

 insects as infest and often impair the blossoms. If planted 

 at other times of the year, w hen the weather is dubious, the 

 effects of the compost are apt to be weakened or destroyed, 

 and should heavy falls of rain happen soon afterwards, many 

 of the plants will probably be destroyed, but if the weather 

 be clear and favourable they will, with a very few exceptions, 

 survive and flourish. 



The Indian gardeners consider red earth to be preferable 

 to any other kind, in the preparation of the above composi- 

 tion, and that of the White Ant hill, which is, I believe, in- 

 variably red, to be still superior. They believe the latter to 

 be of a finer quality, and to have undergone some beneficial 

 alteration in the formation of the hill by the labour of these 



