128 KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



manner as Salsify. If the seed be sown early in the spring in 

 a good deep soil, the roots will attain perfection in autumn, and 

 continue good all the winter. They last from three to four 

 years, according to the quality of the earth and the care be- 

 stowed upon them ; but it is better to raise a few from seed 

 every year. 



SEA-KALE. 



CHOU MARIN. Crambe maritima. 



This plant is found on the sea-shore, in the southern parts 

 of England, where it grows spontaneously. As soon as it ap- 

 pears above ground, the inhabitants remove the pebbles or sand 

 with which it is usually covered, to the depth of several inches, 

 and cut off the young and tender leaves and stalks, as yet un- 

 expanded and in a blanched state, close to the crown of the 

 root It is then in its greatest perfection. When the leaves 

 are full-grown, they become hard and bitter, and the plant is 

 not eatable. Cultivators have differed widely respecting the 

 mode of treating this plant ; many, conceiving that stones, 

 gravel, and sea-sand are essential to its growth, have gone 

 to the expense of providing them ; but it has been discovered 

 that it will grow much more luxuriantly in a rich sandy loam, 

 where the roots can penetrate to a great depth. 



The seed of Sea-Kale may be sown in October, or as early in 

 the spring as the ground can be brought into good condition, 

 in drills an inch and a half deep, and fourteen or sixteen inches 

 asunder. The plants should afterwards be thinned out to the 

 distance of six or eight inches from each other in the rows, and 

 kept clear of weeds by frequent hoeing through the summer. 

 When the plants are a year old, every third row may be taken 

 up, and also every other plant in each row, leaving them four- 

 teen or sixteen inches apart ; these may be transplanted into 

 good ground prepared as directed for Asparagus. Plant two 



