no IMPROVED MODE OF FORCING SEAKALE. 



the correctness of the assertion. Besides, economy is not the 

 only affair; there is no small consolation to be derived from the 

 certainty, with few exceptions, of success, where attention is 

 duly paid — not to mere prescription — but to a strict adherence 

 to those principles wiiich nature has established, a due observance 

 of which is the only satisfactory ground of success. These 

 things, moreover, proceed amidst an enormous increase of busi- 

 ness on the hands of the modern gardener, whose work, both 

 with head and hands, may be fairly said to have doubled within 

 the last thirty years. 



I would here beg to draw attention to an improved mode of 

 forcing seakale, which is one of our most delicious forced vege- 

 tables ; indeed, with abundance of this, mushrooms, and aspara- 

 gus, aided by a clever succession of the various broccolis and 

 cauliflowers, the most fastidious French or Italian cook may be 

 kept in temper during the dull winter months. The high price 

 of seakale, as quoted in our market returns for the months of 

 December and January, sufficiently attests the fact that either the 

 general method of cultivation is unnecessarily expensive, or that 

 it has not become sufficiently simplified. Tiie latter is my view 

 of the case ; and I beg to submit a course of culture which I have 

 practised for some time, with little trouble or expense, and much 

 certainty ; so much so, that I have this winter been able to sujv 

 ply at least four dishes per week, from the middle of November 

 (on an average), in a continuous way, from a bed not ten feet 

 long by two feet in width. 



By the old system of forcing the roots where they grow in the 

 open ground, the labour and hot manure required is enormous ; 

 and in the consumption of the latter article, it proves a tiresome 

 opponent to the early cucumber bed, or the pine pit. More- 

 over, a host of Inige bleaching pots must be procured, at a very 

 high charge, and of these a very considerable portion becomes 

 cracked or broken up in a very short period. In addition to 

 this, there is much uncertainty in the supply as well as character 

 of the article, some of it soon becoming " drawn " and \vorthless. 



I will pass by the process of raising the seedlings with merely 

 observing that they are best raised in drills, well nourished. In 

 preparing the soil for the final planting, much regard should be 

 paid to the staple or texture, independently of the question of 

 manuring. The kale being a seaside plant, and growing for the 

 most part in loose sands, is ill adapted to withstand sour and 

 stubborn clay soils. Where the ground is of this character, 

 means should be taken to pulverise it, by trenching, fallowing, 

 and the introduction of abundance of sand, road scrapings, and 

 cinder ashes ; and the rows of kale should be elevated several 

 inches above the ordinary ground level. The soil duly pre- 



