i9i i] 



Lavender Growing. 



56/ 



A naturally sheltered position should be chosen if possible, 

 as the plants may be injured by high winds in summer ; but 

 the artificial shelter of hedges or walls is not usually recom- 

 mended. The plant is very liable to injury by frost. 



Preparing the Soil. — The ground should be thoroughly 

 cleaned before planting by being allowed to lie fallow, the 

 weeds being collected and burnt, and the soil ploughed and 

 cross-ploughed to produce a good tilth. A medium dressing 

 of dung may be given at the same time. 



Planting. — Cuttings should be taken from established 

 plants in the summer from June onwards, and struck in pre- 

 pared beds, where they can be watered during dry weather. 

 They should be put in 3 in. or 4 in. apart. The old custom 

 of tearing off the woody branches of the plant and planting 

 them thickly in trenches, though somewhat quicker in its 

 results, is a bad one, as cuttings taken in this way are said 

 to be more liable to attacks of fungus disease. 



The young plants will be ready to plant out in their perma- 

 nent positions in the following spring about May, when they 

 should be dibbled in about 4 feet apart in rows and 6 feet 

 between the rows. At this rate 2,000 will be required per 

 acre, and if they have to be purchased the cost may be 16s. 

 per 100, or less. After the ground has been stocked, the 

 grower would provide new plants by striking cuttings himself. 



In the first year the plants should be cut back to prevent 

 them flowering ; in the third and fourth years they will be in 

 their prime; and after the fifth year they should be dug up 

 and burnt. Practice in this respect differs. At Hitchin they 

 are taken up at the end of the third year. In making a new 

 plantation, therefore, planting should be extended over several 

 years, so that too large an area may not have to be grubbed 

 up at once. After the lavender plants have been cleared 

 out, some other crop, such as potatoes, should be grown for 

 a year or two before the land is again planted with lavender. 



Harvesting. — The time of harvesting will depend on the 

 character of the season, but it is usually early in August. Mr. 

 F. Ransom, writing in the Pharmaceutical Journal, states 

 that the earliest season recorded by him was in 1868, when it 

 commenced on July 17th, while the latest was in 1894, when 

 it was deferred till September 3rd. 



