30 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



mixture. Put the boxes in a dark 

 cupboard beside the kitchen fire ; see 

 that the soil is kept moderately moist, 

 and that the crowns are in the dark, 

 and cut when their plump waxen ap- 

 pearance invites you ; or, to adopt a 

 neater method, get from Mr. Pascall, 

 of Chislehurst, Kent, or Mr. Hooper, 

 of Covent Garden, a few of Fry's sea- 

 kale pots, which are made with dark 

 covers that fit into a rim expressly for 

 forcing- sea-kale. They are figured 

 and described at page 152 of the first 

 volume of the Floral World. Plant 

 singly in these pots the strongest roots 

 you have, and stand the pots on the 

 flue, over the hot-water pipes, or in a 

 tan-bed, or over a tank : plunge them 

 in a common hotbed, or wherever 

 there is a steady bottom heat of 55° 

 to 60°, and your supply is sure. 



The common sea-kale pots, with 

 lid covers, are not to be despised, but 

 they are only useful when the plants 

 are in beds. * v These of Mr. Fry's are 

 now largely used where hot water has 

 become the fashion, and they are also 

 the most convenient things for those 

 who force on a very small scale. 



Rhubarb and asparagus may be 

 forced by precisely the same methods, 

 but they both require light to be 

 worth eating. Therefore, though the 

 books are against me in their indis- 

 criminate counsels to blanch, blanch, 

 I say blanched rhubarb is only fit for 

 the London market, where any deli- 

 cate-looking tasteless stuff is sure to 

 sell if offered early in the season ; and 

 asparagus without colour can only be 

 tolerated by those who are utterly 

 ignorant of its proper shape and sub- 

 stance and flavour. You can get very 

 white drumstick asparagus and very 

 tasteless rhubarb at the guinea table 

 of the London Tavern and the Albion, 

 when the dinner season is in full 

 swing ; but no gardener who has 



tasted the genuine produce of his own 

 growing would venture on the forlorn 

 hope of attempting to eat it ; on the 

 other hand, the sea-kale sent to the 

 London market is generally good, 

 because blanching brings it to perfec- 

 tion. 



In cutting sea-kale, be careful to 

 take only the best shoots, and leave 

 the others to improve for a next sup- 

 ply. Calculate your wants before 

 you begin forcing, and set to work no 

 more than will suffice for the first 

 good dish. As one lot comes into 

 use, set others to work for succession, 

 and, of course, discontinue forcing as 

 soon as the season is sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to afford cuttings from the 

 open ground. Asparagus and sea- 

 kale are not generally considered poor 

 men's crops, but they ought to be so, 

 nevertheless. The lavish manner in 

 which stable dung is used in good 

 gardens in making up beds for them, 

 gives rise to a supposition that they 

 cannot be produced except at con- 

 siderable outlay, whereas a fair ad- 

 mixture of manure, such as any one 

 would use for a crop of cauliflower, is 

 quite sufficient. Instead of laying 

 down a bed of dung for a subsoil, mix 

 the dung all through to the bottom of 

 the second spit, and keep up the 

 growth during summer after cutting, 

 by means of house-sewage well di- 

 luted, and the frequent use of soot and 

 salt, and wood ashes in small quanti- 

 ties at a time, and the rains will carry 

 these fertilizing principles down to 

 the lowermost fibres. Better to use 

 insufficient manuring than to be alto- 

 gether without such a delicious escu- 

 lent as sea-kale, which you may sell 

 anywhere by showing it in its crisp, 

 waxen freshness, and eat with any 

 dish of flesh or fowl in the whole ca- 

 talogue of hearty fare. 



ON FORCING THE STRAWBERRY. 



Having- armed at the season for forcing 

 the Strawberry, 1 offer a few remarks on 

 the management of that valuable fruit, 

 and hope to set aside those conflicting 

 opiuions entertained by so many different 



growers, as to the failure of some and at 

 the same lime the great success of others ; 

 the one holding, as his opinion, that the 

 too wet or too dry season has been the 

 cause of failure, the other showing that 



