28 On Sea Kale. 



It delights in a dry, sandy, hunirry soil, and requires 

 no manure. In rich and moist land it is said to be apt 

 to rot. 



The seed should be deposited in rows, about three feet 

 apart, each way. For this purpose I formed a long bed, 

 slightly raised, and a little wider than a comnon aspara- 

 gus bed, in which I made tao rows. From three to five 

 seeds ought to be deposited in a place, to provide for 

 failures, which are not uncommon with this kind of seed. 

 After they have come up, all the plants or stools may be 

 removed, excepting one, the most vigorous and promis- 

 ing. As the seed is a long time in coming up, sometimes 

 as much as eight or ten weeks, I found it convenient to 

 mark each place where it was deposited with a little 

 stick, that the plant might be kept free from weeds, and 

 also that the danger of pulling it up with the weeds might 

 be avoided. It ought to be sown about the first of 

 April, or from that to the tenth. 



During the first summer and autumn, the plant, if cir- 

 cumstances be favourable to its growth, will send out 

 large, coarse, thick, sea green leaves, which, instead of 

 forming a head, will lie flat on the ground. Some of 

 the most vigorous stools or plants, will cover a space of 

 two and even three feet in diameter. Toward Novem- 

 ber the leaves will die, and the whole plant will appear 

 as if about to perish. Soon after this takes place, f. e. 

 generally about the middle or latter end of November, 

 the whole bed should be covered pretty thick with sea- 

 weed, long litter, tan, or some similar substance calcu- 

 lated to preserve it from the frost. If none of these are 

 at hand, the earth may be heaped around each plant, 

 covering it to the depth of several inches. I have al- 

 ways been careful, in covering each root, or stool, in the 

 autumn, (denuded of its leaves, as before described) to 

 mark its situation by a stick, that in the process of un- 



