204 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



SEA KALE.— (Crambe maritima.) 



This vegetable is much esteemed and grown largely for 

 market purposes, botli in England and France, and no 

 private garden of any extent in either country, is consid- 

 ered complete "without it. Here, however, we seem to 

 make but little headway in its cultivation. I have never 

 yet seen it offered for sale in our markets, and its culture 

 is practised in but few private gardens. 



There is an impression that it is difficult of culture in 

 our climate ; this is not so, by any means; it is equally as 

 easy to gi*ow it here as it is in England, only that, like all 

 vegetables, requiring artificial heat for its perfection, its 

 cultivation is attended with more expense than that of veg- 

 etables that we plant in the open ground, without other 

 care than to keep them clear of weeds. 



It is increased either by roots or by seed; when roots 

 can be obtained to start with, they are quicker. The 

 manner of operating with them is as follows : in fall, a 

 few old plants of Sea Kale are dug up, and the roots cut 

 in pieces of from 2 to 3 inches in length ; these are placed 

 in boxes of sand in a dry cellar, until February or March ; 

 they are then strewn on the surface of a hot-bed, where, 

 in a week or two, they will emit roots and tops; they are 

 then potted, hardened off for a few weeks, and as soon as 

 the weather is settled, planted out in rows 3 feet apart, 

 and 2 feet between the plants. If the ground is in the 

 condition that it should be, Sea Kale, thus treated, 

 will produce crowns strong enough to give a crop the 

 next season after planting. When grown from seed, the 

 seed should be sown in hills, at the above distances apart, 

 in early spring, each hill being thinned out to three or four 



