Burnet. Six species. Chiefly hardy herbaceous and shrubby. The latter are increased by young cuttings, and the others by seed. Light rich loam.

Poterium Sanguisorba. Small, or Upland Burnet. Used in cool tankards, soups, and salads.

Soil And Situation

It delights in a dry, poor soil, abounding in calcareous matter; any light compartment that has an open exposure, therefore, may be allotted to it, the only beneficial addition that can be applied being bricklayers' rubbish or fragments of chalk. A small bed will be sufficient for the supply of a family.

Propagation is either by seed, or by slips and partings of the roots. The seed may be sown towards the close of February, if open weather, and thence until the close of May; but the best time is in autumn, as soon as it is ripe; for, if kept until the spring, it will often fail entirely, or lie in the ground until the same season of the following year, without vegetating. Insert in drills, six inches apart, thin, and not buried more than half an inch. The plants must he kept thoroughly clear of weeds throughout their growth. When two or three inches high, thin to six inches apart, and those removed place in rows at the same distance, in a poor, shady border, water being given occasionally until they have taken root, after which they will require no further attention until the autumn, when they must be removed to their final station, in rows a foot apart. When of established growth, the only attention requisite is to cut down their stems occasionally in summer, to promote the production of young shoots, and in autumn to have the decayed stems and shoots cleared away.

If propagated by partings of the roots, the best time for practising it is in September and October. They are planted at once where they are to remain, and only require occasional watering until established. The other parts of their cultivation are as for those raised from seed.

To obtain Seed some of the plants must be left ungathered from, and allowed to shoot up early in the summer; they flower in July, and ripen abundance of seed in the autumn.