22 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



push up strong, and yield a good supply. An excess of heat will 

 be most injurious ; and when the bed is made up with manure from 

 the stable, the roots must not be put into the frame until the heat 

 has declined to 80 deg., for if the roots are not injured by the heat, 

 the growth will be too rapid and the produce small and second-rate 

 in quality. With a good bed of fermenting materials in the frame, 

 the heat rising from it will be quite sufficient for the maintenance of 

 the top heat. "When forced in a pit heated with hot water, a tempe- 

 ratui'e of 60 deg. will suffice. At first the frame may be kept quite 

 close for the purpose of economizing the heat as much as possible ; but 

 immediately the shoots make tlieir appearance above the surface, the 

 frames must be ventilated freely whenever the weather will admit of 

 its being done. The lights must be tilted an inch or so both night 

 and day, to allow the steam arising from the fermenting materials to 

 escape. When shut up in the steam for any length of time, the 

 flavour will not be so rich and full as could be desired. To maintain 

 a supply of crowns for forcing, a bed should be planted with two- 

 year-old roots annually. Roots of this kind do not cost much ; 

 but an abundance may be obtained by sowing a few rows in the 

 kitchen-garden, and thinning the young plants to a few inches apart, 

 when large enough to handle conveniently. They should remain in 

 the rows for two years, and then be lifted and replanted in soil that 

 has been well prepared and enriched with old hot-bed or farmyard 

 manure. It is not needful to prepare beds in the usual manner, as 

 good roots may be obtained by planting, in rows eighteen inches 

 apart, on the level. The roots should be planted about eighteen 

 inches apart in the rows. 



Seakale is in some respects preferable to asparagus for forcing, 

 as much larger supplies are obtainable from a given space and with 

 a certain amount of trouble. It is also more accommodating than 

 asparagus, as it may be forced in a mushroom-house, cellar, or in 

 boxes or barrels covered over to exclude the light. It may also be 

 forced in the open ground by covering with pots and fermenting 

 materials. "When forced out-of-doors strong clumps should be 

 formed about three feet apart each way by planting three or four 

 roots together, so that no time may be lost. For convenience of 

 gathering, the ordinary seakale pots with the moveable tops, or old 

 casks cut in half and fitted with a loose top, should be used. A 

 thickness of from two feet to thirty inches of fermenting materials 

 will suffice to cover the crowns, and if much more is put on, the 

 heat will be too much, and the leaf-stalks will be thin and cut a poor 

 figure upon the dinner-table. When forced in a cellar or mushroom- 

 house, the roots must be lifted and packed close together in a comer 

 where no light can reach them. It is advisable to place a little soil 

 between the roots and to bury them low enough to leave the crowns 

 visible above the surface. The side roots will require removing 

 when tbey are lifted, and all that are of the size of a pencil must be 

 put by for planting in the spring. Those roots when planted in rich 

 soil will acquire sufficient strength to be forced the winter following, 

 and, under ordinary cultivation, they will be large enough for forcing 

 the second year. The roots should be planted early in the spring, nine 



