and with a little nursing
these will make a first plantation. The plants in the seed-bed should be
thinned to three inches, and must have water in dry weather. All the
thinnings should be pricked out in the first instance to make them
strong for planting, but the last lot may go direct to the beds to
finish.

The final planting must be on rich, light, dry soil, and water given to
encourage growth. The distance for the curled varieties is a foot each
way, and for the broad-leaved fifteen inches. In taking the last lot
from the seed-bed, a crop should be left untouched to mature at twelve
to fifteen inches apart. These plants will give a first and most
excellent supply if carefully blanched.

If more convenient, seed may be sown where the crop is intended to
stand, the plants being thinned to the distances already given.

==The blanching== is an important business, and is variously performed.
The customary mode is to tie the leaves together in the manner usual
with Lettuce and mould them up. This method answers perfectly, except in
wet seasons, when, if the plants stand for some time, the outer leaves
begin to rot, and the decay proceeds inwards, to the deterioration or
destruction of the plant. A clean and effective process is to cover the
heart of the plant with a flower-pot. The hole is darkened with part of
a tile or slate, on which should be laid a piece of turf or a handful of
mould. A plate or clean tile placed over the centre of the plant will
also blanch Endives satisfactorily in autumn. For winter supplies, the
plants may be lifted as wanted and placed in boxes or pots of soil,
these being covered with other boxes or pots to exclude light. A
Mushroom-house, cellar, or under a greenhouse stage, will serve for
storing the lifted plants. The blanching must be carried on in such a
way as to insure a succession without a glut at any time, for when
sufficiently blanched Endive should be used, or decay will soon set in.

==GARLIC==

==Allium sativura==

The mode of culture advised for Shallots will suit Garlic also, except
that the latter should be planted in February about two inches beneath
the surface of the soil, and the bulbs may be grown closer together,
about eight or nine inches apart each way.

When large bulbs are required for exhibition or other purposes, the
cloves--as the divisions of each root are called--should be planted
separately; but for general use moderate-sized bulbs, planted whole,
wi