FOREIGN NOTICES. 



529 



al the bottom to keep them from burnin":. As the 

 suofar dissolves and the liquor boils, continuo stir- 

 ring the whole muss. Wiien the IVuit becomes ten- 

 der, break and mash it well with a spoon. In about 

 an hour from the commencement of the operation, it 

 will be cooked enoujrh. It may then bo turned out in- 

 to preserve jars ; a portion should be put into shapes, 

 to be used at dessert in the same way as Bullace 

 and Damson cheese. The next morninj^ it oui^lit 

 to be perfectly stiff and gelatinous, from the stronf^ 

 mucila<»e of the pips havinjr been thoroughly incor- 

 porated with the whole mass. The quantity of su- 

 ffur used may be rather less than is necessary for 

 other preserves. If tied down the usual way it will 

 keep i^ood for a lonjr time. The medicinal qualities 

 of this preparation are applicable to those cases in 

 which mucilage is administered internally ; and a 

 pot of quince marmalade would be as agreeable a 

 prescription to a dysuretic patient, as a dish of 

 roasted onions or a dose of linseed jelly. 



Everybody whose garden or orchard is above the 

 very smallest size ouglit to iiave at least one (juince 

 tree, particularly if it contain any low moist corner. 

 To such a situation they may be removed at a con- 

 siderhble size ; their cost at the nursery is trilling, 

 and many a useless shrub, such as the Snowberr\', 

 or the Privet, might advantageously be uprooted to 

 make way for them. Few low-growing standards 

 are more ornamental. In a small space tliey ex- 

 hibit all the members and proportions of a full sized 

 tree ; something like the Chinese Koo-shoo, or ar- 

 tiriciaily dwarfed Oaks, Hornbeams, &c., that are 

 grown in pots ; there is the old looking trunk, the 

 pendant and grotescjuely contorted branches ; there 

 is the scattered foliage, like the natural day, dark 

 one-half and light the other; in the spring there 

 arc large, delicate blossoms, and in tiie autumn 

 drooping fruit. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Se.\kale. — The Seakale-bed is to be planted in 

 March, in straight rows five feet asunder ; the 

 plants in each row to be 18 inches apart. It is, of 

 course, understood that the ground be thoroughly 

 trenched and manured as usual. Something, but 

 not much, is gained by obtaining year-old plants 

 from the nursery, instead of sowing the seed in the 

 rows, there to remain. By the first method, vou 

 have a larger cutting the ensuing spring ; but you 

 mavcut from your seedling plants, which will have 

 suffered no check by removal, and will grow with 

 corresponding vigour. 



Some time in December, not too soon, when the 

 foot-stalks of the leaves have fairly separated them- 

 selves from the crown of the plants, heap over each 

 about a quarter of a peck of sea-sand or wood ash- 

 es : if not to bo had, any light unmanured soil will 

 do. Then earth up the plants from a trench dug 

 along the space between the rows, exactly as if you 

 were earthing up celery, only that no leaves appear 

 above the top of the mound. Tlie earth should be 

 heaped up till it is about two feet above the crowns 

 of the plants, and then flatted down with the back 

 of the spade, and the whole made very smooth and 

 neat. The long trench between the rows of Sea- 

 kale will act as a drain during the dead time of 

 winter. In the spring, when the shoots begin to 

 push, large cracks will be seen in the bank of 



Vol. 11. 67 



mould, and a trial may be made with a trowel, as 

 soon as they are supposed to be sufficiently ad- 

 vanced for cutting. 



The Seakale thus obtained is lavger, more suc- 

 culent, and more delicately flavored than that 

 blanched under pots. In one case the growing 

 shoot is constantly in contact witli the damp mould, 

 and absorbs moisture instead of parting with it. In 

 the other, the Kale is subject to all the influences 

 of air, though excluded from those ol light, from 

 which, however, it is only protected by a porous, 

 imperfectly closed vessel. All the expense of pots 

 and manure for forcing is saved ; and the only ob- 

 jection to the adoption of this plan in all cases, is, 

 that the crop comes in too much al once. But by 

 having rows of Kale in different e.xposures, a dif- 

 ference of at least ten days may be made ; and a 

 few plants at the foot of a south wall, earthed up 

 from the border, and merely so covered with mould 

 that it slopes against the wall, will afford a very 

 early gathering. 



No second cutting should be attempted ; not so 

 much for fear of weakening the plants, as because 

 the weak slioots thus obtained are comparatively 

 worthless. The earth should be levelled into the 

 trenches, exposing the crowns of the plants, and 

 by introducing some rank manure there will i>e 

 plenty of time for a crop of cauliflowers (in single 

 line) before the increasing leaves of the Seakale 

 require their removal. 



This valuable esculent, so easy of cultivation, re- 

 quiring no peculiar advantages of soil, climate, or 

 situation, well deserves to be more extensively pro- 

 pagated. Those who form their judgment from 

 the estimation in which it is hold in and about Lon- 

 don, are little aware how far it is from being gene- 

 ral in the remoter districts of Great Britain. It is 

 admirably adapted by its hardiness to such coun- 

 tries as Canada, Norway and Sweden, Northern 

 Russia, &.C., where if earthed up4)eforc the frost 

 came, it would lie dormant under' the thick snow, 

 and be ready on the return of spring to put forth its 

 delicious shoots. It is also fitted for those northern 

 insular situations where the temperature never rises 

 above a moderate degree, and where the rains of 

 summer and the constant damps of winter would 

 rot our more tender vegetables. The introduction 

 of a bed of Seakale into a colony or island where it 

 had hitherto been unknown, would be an additional 

 proof of th(! usefulness of the Gardeners' Chronicle. 



To Cook Seakale. — After being well washed, lie 

 it in small bundles for the convenience of taking up, 

 and drop it into a saucepan of boiling water, in 

 which a little salt, according to taste, has been dis- 

 solved. Keep it boilinir- In about 25 minutes it 

 will be done enough, which may be known by try- 

 ing it with a fork. Sir Humphrey Davy tells us 

 that the reason why vegetables and fish should be 

 plunged in boiling .salt and water is, that this solu- 

 tion boils at a higher temperature than plain wa- 

 ter, and that the sutlden scalding fixes the albumen, 

 mucilage, and other nutritive parts of the viand, in- 

 stead of their being macerated and sodden, and so 

 partly lost in luke-warm water. The most econo- 

 mical mode of serving Seakale is to lay it in a ve- 

 getable di-sh with a strainer at the bottom, and to 

 .send up in a small tureen any sauce that may bs 



