Occupations > Abercrombie's improved practical gardener; with a monthly calendar for the flower garden

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SKIRRIT.
This is a perennial tap-rooted plant, the lower
leaves of which are pinnate; the stem rises about
a foot, and is terminated by a number of white
flowers in July and August. The root is compo¬
sed of fleshy tubers about the size of a man’s
little finger, and joined together at the head or
crown. They are sweet, and when boiled and
sen ed up with butter are considered excellent.
Propagation.
A light moderately rich soil suits this plant
best. It is propagated by seed, which should be
sown between the 20th of March and the 20th of
April. They should not be sown sooner than the
former period, as the plants if too forward would
be apt to start to seed in summer. It should be
sown in drills eight inches apart, in an open com¬
partment, and when the plants are two inches
high, they must be thinned out to five or six
inches asunder. Some may be taken up for pre¬
sent use in August, September, and October, but
they will not be in full growth till the end of
autumn, ^hey will continue good all winter till
spring, when the stems will run.
Any of the old plants will shoot in spring and
ripen seed in autumn.