The soil should he loose and loamy, well supplied with humus and shaded to keep it moist and cool. Plastering laths nailed to 2 x 4-inch pieces at the rat • ) f four to the running foot give a proper de gri:e f shade. These 2 x 4-inch pieces run across •h •rs nail,. I to the tops of eight-foot posts set two f t in the ground. The soil may be worked up w thi it making- beds. The planting may be in rows t in -11)s apart, the plants being set six inches a: art in the rows. Belts about four feet wide, made f ten-inch boards, and filled with soil are easier t i ke p clean of weeds but are more expensive in the beginning. Plants may then be set eight inches apart each way. A mulch of leaves or similar material three inches deep spread on after planting furnishes humus and keeps down weeds. Two hun dred pounds each of acid phosphate and kainit in addition to the mulch will supply the necessary fertirizer. Walks about a foot or a foot and a half wide made between the beds make it possible to weed the beds without tramping out the plants. The best method of propagation consists in divid ing the root-crowns of old plants. These may be divided each year, doubling the number at each division, or, if desirable, more and smaller plants may be made according to the number of buds pro duced, since a bud and a part of the rhizome is necessary to produce a new plant. The tops die in early fall and the roots may be divided and planted again while they are dormant. Small plants are formed on the fibrous roots of old plants and may be cared for separately or with the other part of the crop. Seeds are a practicable means of prop agation, being stratified in sand till the following spring when they are planted in the seed-bed. Several years are required to grow the plants to marketable size. The plants from crown division should he dug while dormant about the third year after planting, the large roots sorted out, washed and dried for market, and the smaller ones planted again with those made from crown division for a new crop. The yield per acre is 2,000 pounds, or more, of dried root.
Liquorice (Glyeyr rhiza glabra, Linn.). Legumi now. Fig. 687. A smooth, peren nial - rooted plant, with herbaceous top, bearing on the spar ingly branching stems al ternate,once pinnate, compound leaves of eight to fourteen paired leaf lets and one terminal member ; leaflets en tire, obtuse, oblong or elliptical; the small, numerous, pap ilionaceous, lilac to violet-colored flowers borne in a rather loose, pedunculate spike. The underground parts are wide-spreading through the long, slender rhizomes which run out on all sides and constitute the chief part of the Spanish and smaller sorts of liquorice ' root. The larger sort, the so-called Russian liquorice of southeastern Europe, consists of the larger, more irregular underground parts of the variety glue Reg. & Herd.
The chief sources of liquorice at present are Asia Mina• and the Caucasus, where the plant grows wild, and Spain, Italy and England, where it is cul tivated. The plant can be grown from the seed, but usually is propagated by planting the younger parts of the rhizomes bearing the buds. The crop is harvested in the fall by digging, the cuttings then removed being placed perpendicularly in the ground in a deep, rich, loamy soil. The crop is harvested
every third year. The fresh root is washed, dried and sold. At present the United States De partment of Agriculture is experimenting with several commercial sorts in several of the warmer states. Aside from the medicinal use, liquorice is largely demanded in the tobacco industry.
During the year ended June 30, 1905, the fol lowing importations of liquorice products were made : Liquorice ex tracts, etc., 751,6-16 pounds, valued at $90, 508 ; root, 106,457,889 pounds, valued at $1,780,485.
Lobelia (Lobelia infiala, Linn.) Lobeltacere.
Indian Tobacco. (G.
F. Klugh.) Fig. 688.
A small, branching, hairy herb, six inches to two feet high, bearing ovate or elliptical, roundly toothed leaves, and a slender spike-like raceme of small pale blue flowers, and later much inflated bladdery capsules containing a large number of small brownish seeds. It is found wild on dry hillsides and in pastures from New England to Georgia. Both the green herb and the seed are collected for the crude drug market. Recently the United States Depart ment of Agriculture has undertaken its cultivation.
It likes a moist loam containing a fair percent age of sand and humus. Owing to the smallness of the seed and young seedlings, conditions suitable for germination must be unusually good. The seeds cannot be buried at all, but germinate early in April if planted in late fall or early spring on the surface of the soil. Freedom from weeds and thorough cultivation are essential to its growth. One-half to one pound of seed should be sown to the acre, the rows being two feet apart, to faciii tate cultivation, and the plants left thick in the drill. The whole herb should be cut when in full flower and dried in the shade to preserve the green color. Good soil should yield about 1,000 or 1,200 pounds of dry herb per acre.
Lovage (Lsvisticum officimale, Koch.). Umbelliferce. (S. C. Hood.) An aromatic perennial of the Parsley family, characterized by a system of thickened, fleshy, aromatic roots, having the odor of celery, a tall smooth stem bearing twice or thrice divided leaves, segments wedge-shaped at base ; yellowish flowers in umbels ; seed three-ribbed and also aromatic. The large root is used both as a condiment and for medicinal purposes.
Lovage is an old garden plant introduced from Europe, and is grown as a crop in certain parts of the West and in New England by the Shakers. It is easily propagated either by root division or by seeds, but since the seeds grow so readily it is probably cheaper to use them. Planting should be done in fall in light soil, in drills eighteen inches apart. Heavy fertilization with stable manure should not be used, since it causes the plant to pro duce too much top. Cultivation consists in keep ing the crop free from weeds. The plants will flower the second year and supply a large amount of seed. which also has a market value. The root should be gathered in the late fall and be well washed and cut into slices about one-half inch thick. These are then dried by heat at about 125° Fahr. When dry, they are ready for market.