208 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. [MARCH 



or if large supplies are wanted for market, it may be sown in con- 

 tinued rows nine inches asunder, or upon the general surface, trod 

 down and raked in. 



SOWING CHERVIL AND CORIANDER. 



Sow chervil and coriander for soups and salads, &c. ; draw shallow 

 drills for these seeds eight or nine inches asunder : sow each sort 

 separate, and cover them about half an inch deep with earth. 



These herbs are all to remain where sown, and the chief culture 

 they require is to be kept clear from weeds; but as the plants soon 

 run up for seed, you should sow a small portion every month. 



CRAMEE MARITIMA, OR SEA KALE.* 



The Crambe maritimaj or Sea Kale, being yet very little known 

 in the United States, though a most excellent garden vegetable, and 

 highly deserving of cultivation, it may be of importance to the com- 

 munity to give some account of this plant, and the most approved 

 methods of cultivating it. 



This plant is found growing spontaneously, though locally, on the 

 sea shore of the southern parts of England, as well as in similar 

 places in many other parts of Europe. 



It is of the same natural class as the cabbage, but differs from it 

 and most of the Tetradynamus plants of LINNJEUS, in having a round 

 seed vessel, containing one seed only; its root is perennial, running to 

 a great depth, growing to great thickness, and branching out widely, 

 but not creeping: its full grown leaves are large, equalling in size, 

 when the plant grows luxuriantly, those of the largest cabbage, of a 

 glaucous or sea-green hue, and waved at the edges, thick and succu- 

 lent in their wild state, dying away and disappearing entirely at the 

 approach of winter. Seedling plants when raised in spring, produce 

 the first year radical leaves only; the second spring most of them 

 throw up a flowering stem, a foot or more in height, which, expanding 

 into numerous branches, forms a magnificent head of white or cream- 

 colored flowers, having a honey -like fragrance; these, if the season 

 proves favorable, are followed by abundance of seed. 



As an article of food, the Crambe maritima appears to be better 

 known in England than in any other part of Europe; it is in that 

 country only that its value is rightly appreciated and its culture 

 carefully attended to. 



On many parts of the sea coast of England, especially of Devon- 

 shire, Dorsetshire, and Sussex, the inhabitants from time immemorial 

 have been in the practice of procuring it for their tables, preferring 

 it to all other greens. They seek for the plant in the spring where 

 it grows spontaneously; and as soon as it appears above ground, they 

 remove the pebbles or sand with which it is usually covered to the 



* This vegetable ought to be cooked in a pan, the inside of which is 

 lined with block tin or porcelain ; if exposed to an iron surface, it will get 

 black and be of bitter flavor. 



