424 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 4, 1868. 



recently at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, and for which he 

 has been awarded the Society's medal, yielded last season at 

 Gryffe Castle, Renfrewshire, on a piece of ground measuring 

 1 imperial acre, 1 rood, and 15 poles, the enormous crop of 

 223 bags, weighing, net, 22 tons, 5} cwts., quality first-rate, 

 " flavour excellent," causing quite a run for seed in the spring. 



FORCING SEA-KALE. 



Not being able to afford the market price frequently for 

 forced Sea-kale, I wish to try the plan mentioned by Mr. Fish 

 in your Number of November 13th, and need further infor- 

 mation. 



1. Will a box from a grocer suit ? 



2. Do you recommend plants bought from a nurseryman at 

 Is. dd. per hundred ? 



3. At what time of the year should the plants be put in ? 



4. How soon after the bed is made ? 



5. Leaf mould I cannot easily procure, coal ashes are too 

 dirty, what can I substitute ? 



6. Can the plants be used afterwards ? — M. L. I., Devonshire. 

 [1. Such a box as you may obtain from a grocer will do, as 



an Orange-box, only it must be sound and without cracks, 

 or you must cover it over. Tou can either make the small hot- 

 bed, put the plants on it on soil, and then set the bottomless 

 box over it as stated by Mr. Fish ; or like Mr. Weaver (see page 

 413), you may put the plants in a box with a bottom, set it 

 on the hotbed, or where there is a heat of from 50' to 60°, and 

 cover with the lid. In many cases this will be best for begin- 

 ners, as by uncovering, or by placing additional covering on 

 the box, the temperature may be regulated at will. A heat of 

 55° is a nice average for Sea-kale, and the produce will be 

 better if it seldom exceed 60°. Mr. Fish detailed some time 

 ago how a clergyman used to have very early Rhubarb by 

 putting good roots in barrels and boxes, placing these in his 

 kitchen, and moving them near the fire at night. Almost any 

 quantity of Sea-kale could be obtained by the same process. 

 All that would be required would be the roots, the mild heat, 

 moderate moisture, and darkness. Just as in the case of Rhu- 

 barb, the produce depends chiefly on what was stored up in the 

 root and bud in the previous summer. 



The very best Sea-kale which we ever had at Christmas was 

 thus obtained : A rather large stokehole had been made and 

 arched over, so as to hold a lot of fuel, and to go into it to the 

 furnace we had to open a trap door on the level of the walk 

 and go down a ladder ; all the fuel had also to be tumbled in 

 at this trap-door. There was rocm enough inside to hold a 

 couple of loads of fuel. With some rough boards we divided 

 off a part of it about 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 18 inches 

 deep. The roots were placed at the bottom iu sandy loam, 

 and a rough lid, with an old bag over it, kept all snug and 

 clean and the inside dark. By successions there were innu- 

 merable cuttings of nice stubby heads, averaging 6 or 7 inches 

 long. Here the heat from the furnace was sufficient. A slight 

 hotbed in a cellar, stable, or cow-house would do just as well. 



2. Tes, such plants as you speak of will do ; but the larger 

 the'buds or crowns the better, even if you should give a trifle 

 more money for the roots. 



3. To have a dish at Christmas, or rather on New Year's-day, 

 you must lose no time. The earlier you want to cut the longer 

 time will the plants take, unless you hasten them on too fast, 

 when they are apt to come weaker. If the heat is so mild as 

 to bring on the crop so as to be ready to cut in five or six weeks, 

 you will like the produce better than if forced on in little more 

 than half the time. 



4. Put the plants in a few days after the bed is made. Set 

 them to work directly, if you put the plants in a moveable box, 

 as stated in " Doings of Last Week," or place them in pots 

 or boxes. 



5. Do not trouble yourself with leaf mould if you cannot 

 obtain it. Any sort of soil will do, if sandy all the better, 

 even sand itself, for, as stated above, the produce depends 

 more on the state of the crowus and moisture than upon the 

 fresh rooting. Sandy soil will do well with or without a little 

 rotten dung. 



6. The plants will be useful afterwards in proportion as you 

 cut them once, twice, or more. In the latter case they will be 

 little better than seedlings. If not much cut, by hardening off, 

 and planting out in March and April, they will make fine plants 

 for forcing, after they have grown oft of doors for two summers, 

 if well treated. This is how we generally manage such forced 



plants : After being cut — say twice, and if the roots are ia 

 pots or boxes, we move them first into a shed, with a sprinkling 

 of litter over them, and in a week or two into the open air, 

 with a little sprinkling of litter to keep them from severe frost 

 if it come, for though the plant is hardy enough, it is made 

 tender by forcing, and must be hardened again gradually. 

 Then about March or April we take the roots, and if from 

 9 to 12 inches long, we cut off the crown ends, say, from 4 to 

 6 inches long, and plant them by themselves, in rows 2 feet 

 apart, and 6 inches apart in the row. Then we plant all the 

 budless parts of the roots by themselves, but more closely 

 together in the rows. The first lot will be rather better next 

 year than seedlings, sown in the April preceding, a year old 

 transplanted. The budless parts of the roots will scarcely be 

 so good. There is, however, frequently a little trouble with 

 seedlings, owing to mice and other depredators.] 



■NATURE'S GUIDES FOR GARDENERS." 



A correspondent places at the head of his letter the above 

 sentence, and asks whether there is any work published 

 enumerating such guides, which he considers would be much 

 more satisfactory than " the vague directions in gardening — 

 ' sow end of month,' ' plant middle of the month,' and so on." 

 It is certain that no such work has been or ever can be pub- 

 lished ; there are too many operations required weekly in a 

 garden that have no concurrent natural event. 



There are some relative sayings which have been handed 

 down for ages among gardeners ; but they are so few that we 

 do not remember more than these two : " When you have seen 

 two swallows together sow Kidney Beans ;" " No more frost, 

 for the Mulberry leaves are opened." 



For the following extract, relating to the subject, we are in- 

 debted to " Johnson & Shaw's Farmers' Almanac " for 1867, 

 which is even more rich in useful and interesting information 

 than usual : — " We are obliged to C. M. Caldecott, Esq., Hol- 

 brook Grange, near Rugby, for the period during six years 

 when the cereals of his farm came into ear, flowered, and were 

 harvested. 



Ik Ear. 



" We have noticed in our garden, in certain fixed beds, the same 

 regularity ; we refer to Strawberries and Asparagus, the first 

 gatherings and cuttings of which we subjoin : — 



QUEEN ANNE'S POCKET MELON AS A 

 PRESERVE. 



Much has been said of late of Queen Anne's Pocket Melon, 

 but I have not notioed that any one has made mention of it as 

 a preserve. I have picked upwards of a hundred fruit this 

 season from a two-light frame, and the principal use for them 

 here is to make them into a preserve, and as such they are 

 first-rate. They are opened at one end, the seeds taken out, 

 and they are then preserved whole. 



I have nearly one thousand seeds by me : if any of your 

 numerous applicants have not been supplied, I should be most 



