44, THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



FORCING SEA-KALE. 



|HE sea-kale is a native of Britain ; found in abundance 

 on the sea-coast, growing on rocks and stony places, iu 

 the vicinity of Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, and 

 other places. It is a very useful vegetable, and highly 

 esteemed in most families. By attention to its cultiva- 

 tion, and good management in forcing, it may be kept in succession for 

 a long time, and that, too, when most vegetables are scarce. Having 

 bad considerable success in growing this plant, I am inclined to lay 

 before you my practical mode of culture. Sea-kalo is propagated in 

 various ways ; from seeds sown in the open ground, from pieces of 

 the root cut in lengths, and from plants two or three years old. 

 Some prefer the latter system, but whichever mode is adopted, the 

 ground must be well prepared by trenching, with the addition of 

 plenty of good fresh manure in the autumn, laying it up in ridges 

 during winter, that the frost may act on it. In the spring it will 

 require to be forked and carefully turned over, to get it in good 

 order. The time I prefer for sowing is the last week in March, or 

 the first week in April. I find that, if sown before that time, it is 

 liable to go to seed, whicb spoils the crown for the season ; and, on 

 the other baud, if sown later, it will not be sufficiently strong for 

 forcing in the following autumn. I sow in rows, about one foot 

 apart ; when the plants are up, I thin them out to six or nine inches 

 distant, keeping the ground between them well hoed and stirred, 

 which I find of great utility. I propagate from pieces of the root, 

 cutting them into lengths of about four inches, pricking them into 

 rows two feet apart, and one foot in the row. This is done in the 

 month of March ; they soon root, and become callous at the top, 

 when several crowns will appear ; but great care must be taken to 

 have the crowns all plucked off with the exception of one, whicb 

 must be lefc to grow during the summer. If this precaution is 

 neglected, the plants will, in a great measure, be useless ; for when 

 there are several crowns crowded together on one plant, the 

 nourishment will be divided : consequently they will be small and 

 weak ; but if one only is left, it will receive all the nourishment 

 derived from the root, and will, if attended with frequent hoeings, 

 be large and fit for forcing the next season. To form a new bed of 

 sea-kale, in order to force in the open ground, I prefer one-year-old 

 plants, as small as I can procure them. I plant them on a raised 

 bed, at least two feet high and five feet wide, putting two rows on 

 each bed, and the plants three togetber, in triangles, two feet apart. 

 To force them, I place a large kale pot over each three crowns, and 

 then cover the whole surface of the bed with leaves to the thickness 

 of two feet, which makes the alleys four feet deep. The leaves 

 impart a genial heat through the bed to the roots. However, 

 I prefer forcing sea-kale in the following manner : To cut off 

 the crowns about four inches below the surface of the soil, and place 

 tbem thickly in seed-pans with soil ; then put them under the stage 

 of a store with a large pot over the pan, covering the pot with leaves 

 and dung, and keeping tbem as close as possible. In this manner 



