212 KITCHEN GARDEN. 



With the aid of these pots, sea-kale is forced in the open 

 border in the way now to be described. In the latter end 

 of autumn a bed of vigorous sea-kale plants is dressed, that 

 ie, the stalks are cut over, and the decayed leaves are re- 

 moved. The ground is, at the same time, loosened about 

 the eyes, and a thin stratum of gravel or sifted coal-ashes 

 is laid on the surface to keep down earth-worms. A pot 

 with a movable cover is placed over each plant or each patch 

 of plants. Stable-litter is then closely packed all round 

 the pots, and raised up to about a foot above them; the 

 whole bed thus assuming the form and appearance of a large 

 hot-bed. When fermentation begins, a thermometer should 

 be occasionally introduced into a few of the pots, to ascer- 

 tain that the temperature within does not exceed 60° Fah- 

 renheit, and the depth of the litter is to be regulated 

 accordingly. The vegetation of the included plants is 

 speedily promoted ; so that, in the space of a month or six 

 weeks, the shoots will be ready for cutting, which being 

 thus excluded from the light, are most effectually blanched, 

 and found to be exceedingly tender and crisp. By means 

 of the movable lids, the plants are examined and the shoots 

 gathered without materially disturbing the litter. By com- 

 mencing the litter coverings at various times, on different 

 portions of the quarter, a supply of sea-kale for the table 

 can be readily furnished from the middle of November till 

 the middle of May. 



This vegetable, though not as well known in the United 

 States as it deserves to be, can be raised with very little 

 trouble. The seed may be sown thinly in March, or in 

 April, in drills about a foot apart, and covered about an 

 inch deep. When the plants begin to grow, thin out so as 

 to leave them at first an inch, and afterwards two or three 

 inches apart. In November, cover the crowns of the roots 



