NEW MODE OF GROWING SEA KALE AND RHUBARB. 



71 



noise made by his own wings under the 

 glass. 



Such is the account received from Hol- 

 land, of this mode of ripening grapes. I 

 understand that these bell-glasses can be 

 blown at our glass-works, and afforded at 

 low prices by the dozen. Their value will 

 no doubt be tested bv some of our amateur 



cultivators, who would like a couple of dozen 

 clusters of choice Frontignan or Hamburgh 

 grapes every year, without the expense of a 

 vinery. Vitis. 



P. S. I ought to add the dimensions of 

 the Dutch bell-glass. Its height is about 

 nine inches ; the opening at the bottom six 

 inches ; that at the top two inches. 



New Mode of Growing Early Sea Kale and Rhubarb. 



BY R. W. T., OF PHILADELPHIA, 



Sir — I have a mode of raising an early 

 crop of Rhubarb and Sea Kale, which gives 

 me these two vegetables a fortnight earlier 

 than my neighbors, and which I will, with 

 your permission, lay before your readers. 



About five years ago my workmen were 

 engaged in draining a large piece of low 

 bog meadow. When the ditches were 

 made, a goodly quantity of fine mellow 

 black peat, was thrown out. I had this 

 carted into my kitchen garden. A couple 

 of dozen loads, which were not used in the 

 autumn, were allowed to lie all winter. In 

 the spring, very early, I found to my sur- 

 prise, that a pretty thick coat of the black 

 earth had by accident, been left on one end 

 of a bed of Sea Kale. 



It was at least a fortnight before the 

 usual season for cutting either this vegeta- 

 ble or Asparagus. But already I beheld 

 fine strong shoots of the Sea Kale, pushing 

 their heads above the dark surface of the 

 peat. Indeed, I was then able, from three 

 or four hills, to cut as fine a dish of this 

 vegetable as I ever tasted. It was very 

 finely blanched, and remarkably tender and 

 fine flavored. The roots in that portion 

 of the bed, alongside, that had not been 

 covered by the black earth, did not begin 

 to grow till many days afterwards. 



You may easily suppose that I took ad- 

 vantage of this excellent, though accidental, 

 hint. The November following, I covered 

 my whole bed of Sea Kale fourteen inches 

 deep with the peat earth. I was able to com- 

 mence cutting the shoots, for boiling, the 

 next spring, long before my neighbors ; and 

 the size and flavor were certainly all I 

 could desire. I had been in the habit, like 

 most of those persons who raise this escu- 

 lent, of heaping up a mound of sand every 

 spring, over each hill of Sea Kale. I have 

 now altogether abandoned that way of 

 blanching the stalks. I find the peat a far 

 superior substance for this purpose. Its 

 dark color draws the heat of the sun, and 

 retains it, thus forAvarding the growth of the 

 shoots much more than the sand, which has 

 not this quality, I think also, that the 

 heavy coat of peat laid over the bed in 

 autumn, keeps the frost pretty well out of 

 the ground below it, so that the roots are 

 in a fit state to be excited into growth by 

 the first bright weather in March. 



Since I have found the value of the peat 

 earth for raising early blanched Sea Kale, 

 I have also tried it with Rhubarb. Upon 

 this vegetable it acts equally well. I cover 

 the crowns of Rhubarb, in the fall, about 18 

 inches deep, with the black peat soil, heap- 



