When most of the seeds are ripe the plants are cut with a scythe or mower, preferably early in the morning while moist with dew, in order to avoid shattering the seed. The plants are partially cured in small cocks in the field, the drying being finished in a barn loft or under other suitable shelter, after which the seeds are thrashed out and cleaned.
The yield of seed is quite variable, but returns from experimental areas indicate that from 500 to 800 pounds per acre may be expected. Five hundred pounds of seed will usually yield from 1 to 5 pounds of oil, according to the localities where grown. The annual importation of coriander seed is about 1,400,000 pounds. The prewar price of the seed was about 3 cents a pound; in June, 1920, 3 to 4 cents. The wholesale price of the oil of coriander, which was $5 to $7 a pound before the war, in June, 1920, ranged from $42 to $45 a pound.
[DANDELION.]
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a well-known and troublesome perennial weed, occurring abundantly almost everywhere in this country except in the Southern States. It is frequently cultivated in market gardens for the leaves, which are used for greens or salads, but the root alone is used in medicine.
This plant will grow well in any good soil and has been successfully cultivated in the South, but in the colder parts of the country it may require slight mulching during the winter if the roots tend to heave out of the soil. The seeds, which are sown in the spring, are drilled in rows 18 inches apart and covered one-half inch deep. About 3 pounds of seeds should sow an acre. The seedlings are thinned to stand a foot apart in the row, and the crop should be well cultivated and kept free from weeds.
The roots are dug in the fall of the second season after planting the seed. They should be washed and may be dried whole, or, to facilitate handling and drying, they may be cut into pierces 3 to 6 inches long and the larger, portions sliced. Under favorable conditions, yields at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of dry roots per acre have been obtained from second-year plants. The prices usually offered collectors for the dry root before the war ranged from 4 to 10 cents a pound. The price in June, 1920, was about 16 cents. The quantity annually imported into this country varies from year to year, but averages about 40 tons.
A serious disadvantage attending the cultivation of this crop is the danger of seeding adjacent land with a very undesirable weed.