=r aes

40 FARMER’S CALENDAR.[ APRIL.

der maybe successfully planted from the mid- dle of March to the end of May, a warm show- ery season being preferable; but. the Kentish practice, that which I am detailing, inclines. to the late splat The sets for planting are ready

for drawing by the end of May, or beginning of

June; the proper time, when they: are ten, or twelve inches high, and have produced— branching out from the bottom of the suckers, which may be ascertained by drawing upa few; an acre requires twenty thousand plants. Every plant must have some small fibres at the root, and be moistened when set, particularly if obtain- ed ata distance; and about a third of the top may be cut off. The crop must be perfe ctly clean by hoeing and hand-weeding, during the summer months; and the rows eanithield up with a plough each autumn, until the third after planting, when the roots are dug up by trenching two feet dee ep. Two children at tent each digger, to pick out the rds the workmen Eeanats to pieces every spit earth. The roots being cleaned, are dried upon a“aa oe they are brittle enough to snap asun- der freely. They are then fit to be packed 1 bags for sale. Product from eight hundred to one ton. per’ acre, Should ppolitaide be repeated on the same land 1, the allowance of manure ought to be very large, It may be cultivated upon ridge- work, with any number of rows which may appear nost convenient, but the horse-hoe is apt to da- mage the tender plants, Some cultivators have advised covering the bedsin frosty weather, which, however good, is not so practicable on a large scale