354 ANNUAL REGISTER, 175S.
fpring, when a man can perforRi a great deal of this work in a day, and if it is done in dry
weather, the weeds will die as fal as they are cut down ; whereas, when the weeds are left to grow fo long as to get llrength, they are not fo foon dellroyed, and the expence of h< eing the ground then will be more than treble what it might be performed for early in the feafon ; befides, there will be danger of cutting down foine of the weaker plants wiih the weeds, if the perions employed to perform this work are n«)t very careful.therefoieit is much cheaper, as alfo better for the madder, to begin this work early in the fpring, and to repeat it as often as the weedi render it neceffary ; for by keeping the ground thus conflantly clean, the madder will thrive the better, and the expence in the whole year will be lefs ; for when weeds are fuffered to grow large, they are not eafily fub- dued.
During the firft fummer, the only culture which the madder requires, is that of keeping it clean in the manner before direded, and, when the ihoocs or haulm of the plants decay in autumn, they Ihould be raked off the ground ; then the in- tervals between the rows fhould either be dug with a fpade, or ploughed with a hoeing plough, laying up the earth over the heads ot the plants in a roundifh ridge, which will be of great fervice to the roots. The Dutch cover the haulm of their madder with earth, leaving it to lot upon the ground ; this perhaps may be neceilary in their country, to keep the frolt our of the ground ; but, as 1 have never found that the feverell winters have ever injured ibe madder roots inEngI and.
fo there is not the fame neccffity for that pradice here.
Ihe following fpring, before the madder begins to (hoot, the ground Ihould be raked over fmooth, that the young fhoots may have no ob- Urudion, and, if there Ihould be any young weeds appearing on the ground, it fliould be firll fcufflcd over to deilroy the weeds, and then raked over fmooth ; after this the fame care mull be taken in the following fummer, as in the former, to keep the ground clean from weeds, and, if it is performed by the hoe-plough, the earth of the intervals ftiould be thrown up againit one fide of the ridges, v^hich will earth up the roots, and greatly increafe their ftrength ; but, before the ground of one in- terval is fo hoed, the haulm of the plants fhould be turned over to the next adjoining interval, and, if they are permitted fo to lie for a fortnight or three weeks, and then turned back again on thofe intervals which were hoed, ob- ferving firft to fcuffle the ground to deltroy any young weeds, which may have appeared fince the ftir- ring of the ground, then the alter- nate intervals fhould be ploughed in like manner, turning the earth up againil the oppofite fides of the roots ; by this method the intervals will be alternately ploughed, and the plants earthed up, whereby the ground will be kept clean and Ihrred, which will greatly promote the growth of the roots, and by this method the fuperficial fhoots will be fubdued, and the principal roots greatly ilrengthened. The fol- lowing autumn the ground fhould be cleared of the haulm and weeds, and the earth raifed in ridges over the roots, as in the foregoing year.
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