THE SEA- KALE. 655 



be constantly borne in mind that the stalks of the coming year, culture 

 and other circumstances alike, depend on the number of matured 

 stalks with healthy leaves of the present year. In gathering, first 

 scrape away a little earth from the shoot ; then cut it off within the 

 ground, with a narrow sharp-pointed knife, or small saw, about nine 

 inches long (fig. 41, p. 91); thrusting the knife or saw down straight, 

 close to the shoot, cutting it off slantingly, about three inches below the 

 surface, and taking care not to wound the younger buds advancing 

 below. The shoots are next sorted and tied in bundles of between 

 two and three inches in diameter, and in that state sent to the kitchen 

 or to market. 



The duration of an asparagus plantation should seldom be less than 

 ten or twelve years; but in deep sandy soils, well enriched with 

 manure, it will last twenty or thirty years. The plants are not subject 

 to the attacks of insects, though the asparagus beetle (Crioceris 

 asparagi, L.) sometimes makes its appearance in spring, and ought to 

 be deterred from laying its eggs by watering with some fetid liquid in 

 April, or the insects, which are easily known from their bright lively 

 colours, may be gathered by hand. 



To save seed, allow the blossoms of some of the strongest stems to 

 remain on ; the fruit will ripen in October, and may either be thrashed 

 out and kept in bags, in which state it will retain its vitality for four 

 or five years, or it may be retained on the stems, and these being 

 hung up in a dry place, the seed will grow at the end of fifteen or 

 twenty years. 



Forcing the asparagus in the open garden and under glass has been 

 already treated of. 



The Sea-Kale. 



The Sea-kale (Crambe maritima, L.) is a cruciferous perennial, with 

 long, strong, deeply-penetrating roots, a native of Britain, on the sea- 

 coast in many places, and always most vigorous in a sandy soil, or a 

 loamy subsoil, overflowed by spring tides. The young shoots and leaf- 

 stalks, just as they come through the sand, and are blanched and 

 tender, have been boiled and eaten by the inhabitants of the western 

 shores of England from time immemorial ; but the plant was not culti- 

 vated as a garden esculent till after the middle of the last century. It 

 is now reckoned second in excellence to the asparagus, and to be found 

 in every good garden, sometimes even in that of the cottager. It comes 

 into use in the open garden in the beginning of March, and continues 

 good till May; and by forcing it can be obtained from November 

 throughout the whole of the winter and spring. No plant requires less 

 care in its cultivation, or less heat to force. 



Propagation and Culture. By seed is the common mode, but it will 

 also grow freely by cuttings of the roots. If sown to transplant, a 

 seed-bed four feet by ten feet will require two ounces; if sown in 

 drills to remain, the same quantity will sow one hundred and fifty feet 

 of drill. The seed will come up in a month. It is generally grown in 

 rows two feet apart, and the plants about the same distance in the 



