i6o 



Commercial Gardening 



Fig. 491. Clump of Forced Rhubarb 



The heat to be maintained is 55 to 60 F. 

 If the forcing is too sharp, a failure of colour 

 is the result; if there is a check in growth, 

 that is, if a higher temperature is started with 

 than can be maintained, leaf is produced in- 

 stead of stalk. 



Plenty of water must be used during 

 forcing. The Yorkshire forcers have set the 

 fashion of little bundles of two or three 

 sticks, which sell at Is. Qd. to 2s. per dozen 

 bundles early in the season. [w. G. L.] 



28. SEAKALE 



The Seakale (Crambe maritima) of com- 

 merce has been evolved by selection from the 

 maritime plant that can be seen growing on 

 the seashore. It is useless for edible purposes 

 unless artificially treated, by compelling it to 

 grow in the dark and thus inducing it to ex- 

 pend its stored forces in sending out, in an 

 effort to find the light, a compacted growth 

 which the darkness bleaches (fig. 492). The resulting product is an 



esculent with all the delicacy and 

 with something of the flavour of 

 the Asparagus, but at present 

 nothing like so much in the public 

 favour. 



Seakale can be grown from 

 seed sown in March, when it 

 takes two years to form a mature 

 " crown ", or from " sets " obtained 

 by cutting the roots into lengths 

 of 3 to 4 in. and striking; them, one 



O 



end becoming the crown and the 

 other the root. These sets are 

 planted out in rows 15 in. apart 

 with 10-in. spaces in the rows. 

 The planters should be cautioned 

 to close the sets well at the bottom 

 with the dibber. 



A great many shoots will be 

 Fig. 49-2. -Forced Seakale sent up from each set; many of 



these will disappear naturally, but 

 in some cases three or four will persist, and as one good crown is better 



