KITCHEN GARDEN. 211 



inundated by salt water. When the head of the 

 plant first shows itself, it is white, and tender, and 

 well-flavoured, and not inferior to asparagus ; but, 

 after reaching the light and the air, it soon becomes 

 green and bitter, and quite unfit for the table. The 

 natural condition of the plant would appear to in- 

 dicate the best mode of cultivating it, and that the 

 bed destined for it should be pure sand, moistened 

 by a solution of salt in water ; but we have on this 

 head the assurance of practical gardeners, that, in a 

 well-manured and thoroughly dug loam, the seakale 

 does even better than in its natural bed.* This 

 plant is propagated by cuttings and by seeds, 

 and most surely by the former ; but the quality of 

 the product is inferior to that given by the other 

 mode.f In case of planting, your beds must be so 

 prepared as to receive each two rows of the slips, 

 which are to stand fourteen inches apart (in an up- 

 right position), with their crowns not more than 

 one inch under the surface. In five or six weeks 

 they may show themselves above ground, and du- 

 ring the second year, if kept free from weeds and 

 occasionally watered, will be fit for use. If sowing 

 be preferred, after labouring the ground thoroughly, 

 form a number of hills as for Indian corn, and sow 

 in each six or eight seeds. Should they all vege- 

 tate, they may be reduced to two, which you will 

 manage in the way prescribed for the cuttings. In 

 November, whether your bed has been filled with 

 plants or with seedlings, be careful to cover them 

 with a thick coat of well-rotted dung; and so 

 soon in the ensuing spring or summer as you find 

 them pushing through this covering, put over each 

 a garden-pot inverted, having first stopped the bot- 

 tom-holes. J The signal for cutting is when the 

 plants have risen about three inches above the sur- 

 face. 



* M'Mahon. t Idem. Millar. 



t The object in doing this is to exclude the light, for under 

 its influence the plant Incomes green and bitter 

 17 



