Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/369

 MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. ^S5

The third fpring the roots will Furnifh a great fupply of young plants, but, before thefe appear, the ground Ihould be cleaned and raked fmooth, that the fhoots may have no obftrudion to their com- ing up: and, when the young plants are fit to take off, it fhculd be performed with great care, always taking off thofe which are produced at the greateft diftance from the crown of the mother- plants, iirit, bccaufe thofe are whst rob them moft of their nouriih- iTient, and the wounds made by feparating them from the old roots are not near fo hurtful as thofe near the crown, for the ilripping cfF too many of the fhoots there will retard the growth of the plant.

The culture of the madder in the third fummer muil be the fame as the fecond, bat, as the roots will then be much ftronger, the earth fhould be laid up a little higher to them at the times when the ground is cleaned andplouglied ; and, if all the diilant fuperlicial Ihoots, which come up in the in- tervals, are hoed or ploughed off, K will be of fervice to ftrengthen the larger downright roots, and, as the haulm will now be very ftrong and thick, the frequent turn- ing it over, fron one interval to another, will prevent its rotting, for if it lies lonj; in the fame po- ficion, the fyioots, which are near the ground, where there will be always more or lefs damp, and being covered with the upper ihoots, the air will be excluded from them, which will cauie them to rot, for the fhcors of madder are naturally difpofed to climb upon any neighbouring fuppori, and in places where they have been fupported, 1 have feen them

more than ten feet high ; but the expence of ilaking the plants to fupport their ihoots would be much too great to be prattifed ia general, therefore the other method of turning the haulm over, from one interval to the other, will be found of great ufe, for hereby it is kept frO'-n decaying, and by fo doing the fun is alternately ad- mitted to each fide of the roots, which is of more confequence to the growth of the madder than moll people conceive ; and from many repeated trials I have found, that v.here toe haulm has decay- ed or rotted in fummer, it has greatly retarded the growth of the roots. There have been fome ignorant pretenders who have ad- vifed the cutting of the haulm in fummer, in order to itrengthea the roots, but whoever praftifes this, will find, to their coil, the abfurdity of this method, for I have fully tried this many years ago, and have always found thac every other root, upon which this was praftifed, was at leaft a third part fmaller than the intermediate roots, whofe haulm was left en- tire. The occafion of firfl making this experiment was, becaufe the plants had been fet too near each other, and the feafon proving moift had increafed the number and ftrengih of the fhoots, fo that they became fo thick, as that many of them began to rot : to prevent which, I cut off the (hoots of every other plant, to give room for fpread- ing the others thinner, but footi after this was done the plants pro- duced a greater number ol ihoots than before, but rhey were tveaker, and theeffedt it h-id -.ip^n the roots was as before related, and fince then I have frequently lepeated the experiment on a few roots, and A a 2 have