274 
MANURES. 
Chap. XVI. 
plant, turnips, radishes, carrots, onions, gobbo 
( Arctium gobbo), cucumbers and melons, ginger, 
yams, and sweet potatoes. 
No time is lost in getting these crops into the 
ground. The com, I have already observed, is 
grown in rows, and some time before it is ripe 
the spaces between the rows are carefully weeded, 
stirred up, and manured with burnt ashes. The 
summer crops are then sown or planted between 
the rows of the ripening com, and have made con- 
siderable progress in their growth before it is har- 
vested. In this way a longer season of growth is 
secured. When the corn has been cut, the stubble, 
after a short time, is hoed Up and drawn to the 
side of the new crop, where it rots and forms 
manure. 
The manures which are used for these crops con- 
sist chiefly of burnt ashes at the time of sowing, 
and of night-soil diluted with water during the 
period of growth. Night-soil and urine are care- 
fully collected and deposited in large earthen jars, 
which are sunk on the sides of the fields. 
Sweet potatoes are preserved during winter in 
a square plot of ground in the farm-yard. This 
is surrounded with a straw fence, and covered 
over with paddy husks and straw when the 
weather is cold. Early in May, — the winter 
covering having been removed, — the potatoes 
begin to grow rapidly, and send out numerous 
young shoots, which are made into “cuttings,” 
and transplanted at once into the fields. This 
