234 GAKDEN MANAGEMENT. 



627. SeaTcale. — Some families like to have seakale in by Christmas ; but at 

 whatever time it is in request, the process is the same. It may be forced in a 

 frame or pit as before described, or put in pots made for the purpose, having 

 covers to exclude the light, and these pots placed in a frame, pit, or warm 

 greenhouse. The most common method is to place seakale-pots over the 

 crowns, and cover these pots with fermenting dung or leaves : leaves are the 

 safest, if not in too great quantity, or mixed with grass which is too wet: if 

 stable dung is used, it should be well prepared by turning and allowing the 

 rank heat to pass off. Too great a heat is likely to destroy the crop for the 

 season, and the plants permanently. If left till IMarch, the open-ground culture 

 is best : then a little sand or ashes placed over the crowns, and banking 

 over as we would earth-up celery, is sufficient. When the kale is fit to cut, 

 it will be indicated by the plants. 



628. Early Asparagus is forced in the following manner with most satis- 

 factory results. In an ordinary melon-pit, about the beginning of February, 

 a quantity of stable dimg is set to work, by turning and shaking, as described 

 in the January calendar, to sweeten and regulate the heat. By the middle of 

 the month, as much of this is thrown into the pit as will fill it to within a foot 

 of the glass. Two days afterwards, this is covered with a layer of three inches 

 of mellow soil. On a mild day previous to this, a quantity of asparagus-roots 

 should have been grubbed up from an old bed (which make the best plants for 

 forcing), and placed ready. As soon as the fermenting material has arrived 

 at a safe temperature— about 80°, these roots are packed thickly together on 

 the three inches of soil, and more soil thrown on them, just sufficient to cover 

 them, without increasing the weight too suddenly or too greatly. This precau- 

 tion is necessaiy, because the addition of ten inches of earth would cause a 

 rapid sinking and proportionate rise in the temperature of the dung, to the 

 injury of the roots. Four days after planting, sufficient earth is put on to 

 cover the crowns about six inches. In ten days the crowns begin to appear. 



629. By this time the settling of the dung has brought the surface of the soil 

 eighteen inches from the glass. Nothing more is required to be done than to 

 cover them from frosts and give them an occasional watering, with a little salt 

 in the water. This bed will continue to produce largely till the time asparagus 

 is plentiful out of doors. Asparagus may be forced any time during the winter ; 

 but to have it earlier than February, a frame and dung-bed is better than a 

 melon-pit, since the necessary heat must be maintained by means of outside 

 linings : in other respects the treatment is much the same. It is advisable to 

 be cautious in watering forcing-beds in the colder months, as I consider that a 

 properly-made-up bed should contain moisture in itself sufficient, or nearly so, 

 to nourish it. 



630. Frame Potatoes. — It is also a good time to put some potatoes in a 

 little heat. An excellent plan is to pare the soil off an old cucumber- or 

 melon-bed ; add 3 inches of fresh earth, then set the potatoes 15 inches 

 or so apart, and cover with 5 or 6 inches more earth ; put on the lights, and 

 then give a good lining of prepared dung : this will cause heat, and the 



