190/.] 



Cultivation of Lavender. 



533 



light and air. Hedges should be cropped very close and low, 

 and walls of any sort are objectionable. 



In cleaning the ground preparatory to planting, all weeds 

 should be carefully rooted out, stacked in small heaps and 

 burned, the ashes being afterwards distributed over the 

 ground. It is advisable to prepare the soil previous to planting 

 by trenching in a quantity of short straw and stable refuse, 

 but not much dung. Wood ashes can be used to advantage. 

 The ground should be allowed to lie fallow until the spring, 

 when all weeds should be again cleared and the whole ploughed 

 over. In May, according to weather, the young plants can be 

 dibbled into their places, in rows north to south, 4 ft. apart 

 and 6 ft. between the rows. Some growers plant much 

 closer, but this decreases the flower-bearing capacity of the 

 plant, and makes it difficult to keep the ground clear of weeds 

 and to cut the flowers. 



A stock cannot be produced from seed, but cuttings can 

 be taken from established plants ; they should be of young 

 growth and taken at the joint with a heel ; they will 

 strike freely between May and October. Young shoots strike 

 more readily than woody branches and produce more compact 

 plants. They should be put in 3 or 4 in. apart, shaded 

 from the sun and watered. They can be transplanted the 

 following spring to their proper place. Mild moist weather 

 should be selected for putting them out. The practice of 

 roughly taking cuttings or clippings of branches, and striking 

 them thickly planted together in rows or trenches is bad. 

 Plants propagated in this way have to be dragged apart, 

 thus tearing the bark, injuring the roots, and so inducing 

 fungoid disease. Weeds should be kept carefully under, but 

 as the lavender roots spread near the surface the blade of the 

 hoe should be only 1 in. deep. 



The young plants should be prevented as far as possible 

 from flowering the first year, by clipping them with shears ; 

 this throws the strength into the lateral shoots and makes 

 the plants bushy and compact. 



Some growers clear out all the plants after five years and 

 substitute potatoes or other vegetables. This may be avoided 

 by clearing off a portion of the older plants every year if the 

 whole plantation was not planted at once. These old plants 



