APRIL] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 339 



an inch deep, will produce fine eatable roots for autumn and winter 

 use; they are boiled and eaten like carrots, &c., and are greatly 

 esteemed by many. When the plants are up, they must be thinned 

 to five or six inches apart, and be kept perfectly free from weeds. 

 They may also be sown broadcast, in three or four feet wide beds, 

 and, when up, thin them to six or seven inches distance every way. 



SKIRRET. 



The Sium sisarum, or skirret, is greatly esteemed as a garden 

 vegetable; its root is composed of several fleshy tubers, as large as a 

 man's finger, and joining together at top. They are eaten boiled, 

 and stewed with butter, pepper and salt ; or rolled in flour and fried ; 

 or else cold with oil and vinegar, being first boiled. They have 

 much of the taste and flavor of a parsnep, but a great deal more 

 palatable. 



This plant is cultivated two ways ; first by seed, and second by 

 slips from the roots : the former method I think the more eligible, 

 because the roots which are raised from seeds generally grow larger 

 than those raised by slips, and are less subject to be sticky. 



The seeds should be sown the latter end of March, or in the be- 

 ginning of this month, either broadcast or in drills ; the ground 

 should be light and moist, for in dry land the roots are generally 

 small, unless the season proves wet. 



The seeds may be sown broadcast or in drills, and covered half an 

 inch deep ; they will rise in five or six weeks, when they must be 

 carefully weeded, and thinned to the distance of six inches asunder. 

 In autumn, when the leaves begin to decay, the roots will be fit for 

 use, and continue so till they begin to shoot in the spring. They 

 may be taken up on the approach of winter, and preserved like car- 

 rots. 



To propagate this plant by offsets, dig up the old roots in spring, 

 before they begin to shoot, and slip off the side shoots, preserving an 

 eye or bud to each ; plant them in rows one foot asunder, and six 

 inches distant in the rows ; and in autumn they will be fit for use as 

 before. Or you may separate the roots that you have preserved all 

 winter, and plant them in the same manner. 



SOWING COMMON AND LARGE-ROOTED OR HAMBURG PARSLEY. 



Sow a full crop of the common and curled parsley ; and also of 

 the large-rooted parsley, as directed last month, on page 207. 



SEA KALE. 



If you have yet omitted sowing the Crambe maritima, or sea kale, 

 it may be sown the beginning of this month. For its general cul- 

 ture, see page 208, &c. 



