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THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
scarcely less to be desired than horseradish. This plant re- 
quires a good soil, and an open, sunny position ; shelter is 
desirable, for in hard winters sage is, in exposed situations, 
very much cut up. Cuttings may be made, in the month of 
April, of hard wood of last year’s growth, and these should 
be planted in a shady place, and have water when the weather 
is dry. It is better, however, to wait till the early part of 
June, and then take cuttings of the new wood, selecting the 
strongest shoots on the outsides of the old plants. Remove 
the leaves from the shoots, except the last half dozen at the 
top, and insert the cuttings deep in newly-dug ground, in a 
shady place, six inches apart each way. Give them a sprinkle 
of water every morning, to keep the tops fresh and make the 
soil moderately moist. Of course, this need not be done 
during wet weather. Let them remain till the March follow- 
ing, and then transplant them to an open, sunny spot, one 
foot apart. Seeds may be sown in April or May, in a bed of 
light soil, in drills six inches apart. As soon as large enough 
to draw, the rows may be continually thinned, and the thin- 
nings may be planted out, in showery weather, six inches 
apart, to gain strength for planting out for use. It is a good 
plan to destroy plantations of sage after four or five years’ 
use, and begin again with young plants, as they are apt to 
become stumpy, and many of them die in the centre. The 
flavour of sage is so agreeable to some persons, that they put 
a leaf in the tea-pot to flavour the tea, and “they say : ’ that 
tea so flavoured is a fine refresher for a weak stomach. 
Thyme, Thymus vulgaris , is the common pot-herb thyme. 
It grows best in a sunny situation, on stony or sandy soil, but 
it may be grown in rich garden soil; in which case it is rather 
tender in winter. When growing amongst stones, or on walls, 
the severest frost does not harm it. Thyme may be raised 
from seeds sown in fine earth in April or May, and will re- 
quire to be thinned as the plants spread. It is far better, 
however, to divide the plants into little pieces, each with a 
few roots, in March or April, or, indeed, any time through 
the summer, if shading and watering are resorted to, that the 
heat of the sun may not destroy them. It is an exhaustive 
plant ; therefore, after having stood some years in one spot, 
a fresh plantation should be made, and the old one should be 
destroyed, and the ground deeply dug and manured. Cut 
the tops for drying when the flowers begin to expand. 
