ALOE. 
106 
packed in heaps upon the most shallow barren 
spots, or laid round the field as a dry wall. The 
land is then lightly ploughed, and very carefully 
cleared of noxious weeds, lined at one foot distance 
from row to row, and the young plants set, like cab- 
bages, at about five or six inches from each other. 
This regular mode of lining and setting the plants 
is practised only by the most exact planters, in or- 
der to facilitate the weeding of them by hand, very 
frequently ; because, if they are not kept perfectly 
clean and free from weeds, the produce will be but 
very small. They will bear being planted in any 
season of the year, even in the driest, as they will 
live on the surface of the earth for many weeks with- 
out a drop of rain. The most general time, how- 
ever, of planting them, is from April to June. 
t£ In the March following, the labourers carry a 
parcel of tubs and jars into the field, and each takes 
a slip or breadth of it, and begins by laying hold of 
a bunch of the blades, as much as he can conve- 
niently grasp with one hand, while with the other 
he cuts it just above the surface of the earth, as 
quickly as possible (that the juice may not be 
wasted), and then places the blades in the tub, 
bunch by bunch, or handful by handful. When 
the first tub is thus packed quite full, a second is 
begun (each labourer having two); and by the time 
the second is filled, all the juice is generally drained 
out of the blades in the first tub. The blades are 
then lightly taken out, and thrown over the land 
by way of manure; and the juice is poured out into 
