MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. 235 



vested and threshed like clover seed. When grown 

 for the seed, a sufficient quantity is likely to shatter 

 out to produce a crop the next year, by simply run- 

 ning the harrow over the land in the early spring. 



Spurry has been called "the clover of light, 

 sandy soils," because of its value in improving the 

 same, both in texture and fertility, when grown as a 

 green manure. It should be turned under with a 

 light furrow that the plant food may be kept near 

 the surface. If some of the seed is allowed to ripen 

 before the crop is thus buried, another crop of spurry 

 will grow above the decaying plants without the 

 necessity of sowing any more seed. Under some 

 conditions it is possible to plow under three crops 

 of spurry in one season. 



KALE. 



Kale is a variety of Brassica oleracea, the 

 species of cruciferous plants to which cabbage, 

 cauliflower and Brussels sprouts belong. Ordi- 

 narily, it means any variety of headless cabbage 

 which produces curled and crinkled leaves, but in 

 some varieties the leaves are smooth. In some of 

 its varieties it is grown in kitchen gardens for its 

 leaves. These are variously cooked, as for greens, 

 for potherbs, or as a component in making some 

 kinds of soup. In certain parts of Virginia, much 

 kale is grown and shipped to the northern markets 

 in winter. In Great Britain some varieties of kale 

 are grown to provide green food for sheep and lambs 

 at certain seasons of the year, but more especially in 

 the early spring. One variety is very much 

 branched. It is popularly spoken of as "thousand- 



