Apr.] THE CULINARY GARDEN. 1^ 



SOWING SALSAFY, SCORZONERA, AND SKIRRETS. 



Sow all these sorts about the middle of the month, in di'ills 

 twelve or fifteen inches apart. Cover them slightly. As their 

 roots are esteemed, when large, let the ground be sub-trenched, 

 and manured with a compost of rotten dung, road-scrapings, 

 &c. Avoid using rank dung for any sort of vegetable, the 

 roots of which are to be used. 



If the gi'ound be dry, tread it slightly, and scatter a fe\* 

 lettuce-seeds thinly among them. 



They will require thinning in May or June, to five or six 

 inches distant ; the roots will attain perfection in autumn, and 

 continue good during the winter, until the following spring. 



PLANTING POTATOES. 



New or improved varieties of this valuable root are only to 

 be obtained from seed, which ripens in great abundance upoa 

 the later kinds; but the earliest varieties seldom produce either 

 flowers or seeds. Where it is intended to originate varieties from 

 seeds, the apples as they are called, or seed-envelops, should 

 be gathered in October when ripe, and the seeds taken out by 

 washing the pulpy matter several times, until the seeds be left 

 clean. They should be preserved until the spring, and sown in 

 a light dry soil in drills, and covered to the depth of three 

 inches ; they will soon appear above ground, and, as they ad- 

 vance in growth, thin them out to five or six inches apart, and 

 keep them clear of weeds till autumn, when they will be fit to 

 take up. The first season, the tubers will be very small, though 

 numerous ; select such, whose formation appears to be most per- 

 fect for the purpose of planting the ensuing spring. At the 

 end of the second year's growth, they will have attained a size 

 sufficient to determine their properties; and such as appear 

 worthy of cultivation, should be kept for planting, and the 

 remainder thrown away. It would undoubtedly be worthy the 

 attention of cultivators, who attempt this process, to impreg- 

 nate the blosso)ns of one valuable sort with the farina of 

 another; many valuable fruits have been thus produced, and 



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