THE  TRADE  IN  LIQUORICE. 
451 
This  paste  is  manufactured  from  the  month  of  November  till 
March,  the  warm  season  being  very  unfavorable  for  it ;  so  much 
so,  that  it  is  not  advisable  to  ship  any  in  summer,  as  it  easily 
runs  into  one  mass  in  the  boxes,  and  then  is  only  to  be  sold 
for  damaged  liquorice.  The  round  sticks  are  preferable  to  the 
flat  ones,  and  the  good  quality  is  to  be  brittle,  bright,  without 
pores,  and  of  a  good  fragrant  smell. 
In  this  country  about  fifty  acres  are  under  culture  at  Mitcham 
with  the  smooth  liquorice,  and  much  more  at  Pontefract. 
Twenty  cwt.  of  root  per  acre  may  be  reckoned  a  fair  crop.  The 
expenses  of  taking  up  the  root  by  the  fork  costs  £10  to  £16  per 
acre. 
The  same  ground  will  answer  for  liquorice  for  many  years  in 
succession,  but  it  requires  a  plentiful  supply  of  manure.  No 
return  is  obtained  until  the  third,  fourth,  or  fifth  year.  The 
roots  are  usually  taken  up  with  a  three-pronged  fork,  and 
stacked  in  trenches  until  wanted.  The  stacking  is  effected  in  a 
moderately  dry  and  sheltered  place,  the  roots  being  placed  up- 
right, with  layers  of  earth  between  them,  and  a  layer  of  several 
inches  thick  on  the  top.  In  this  manner  the  stock  is  preserved 
in  good  order  for  several  months.  They  are  taken  out  when 
wanted,  by  hundredweights,  and  before  being  sent  to  London 
are  deprived  of  their  crowns  by  chopping.  The  fibres  and  small 
branches  which  are  removed  in  trimming  are  called  offal,  and 
were  formerly  dried  and  ground  to  powder,  and  much  used  by 
chemists  for  rolling  pills,  in  order  to  give  consistency  and  sub- 
stance to  the  compound. 
This  well-known  vegetable  product  was  equally  familiar  to 
the  ancients,  who  also  used  it  medicinally.  Under  the  name  of 
Pontefract  cakes,  small  liquorice  lozenges,  stamped  with  the 
arms  of  the  town  from  whence  they  take  their  name,  are  still 
sold  by  chemists  and  druggists. 
The  foreign  root  is  sometimes  imported  from  San  Sebastian 
and  the  Papal  Territories  into  London  and  Liverpool  in  small 
bundles  of  60  to  70  lbs.  each,  for  the  use  of  druggists.  It  is 
grown  and  manufactured  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  prov- 
inces of  Seville,  Valencia,  and  Catalonia,  in  Spain.  The  liquor- 
ice-root grows  wild  in  many  parts  of  Greece,  and  especially  in 
the  province  of  Achaia,  at  Corinth,  Phthiotes,  and  Missolonghi, 
