380 



GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



Salsafy and Scorzonera. These are long tapering-rooted plants that do not obtain 

 the wide cultivation they deserve. The Salsafy has long, narrow leafage, and long, 

 narrow, white roots. Scorzonera has broader leaves and dark-skinned roots. The former 

 enjoys on the Continent the designation of vegetable oyster, so nice are the roots when 

 properly cooked. Seed of both plants should be sown about the middle of April in 

 shallow drills, 12 inches apart, and on soil that has been deeply dug. When the weather is 

 dry it is well to thoroughly water the drills an hour before sowing the seeds. The plants 

 when 4 inches in height need to be thinned out to from 3 to 4 inches apart in the rows. 

 The hoe should be freely used between them during the summer. Roots of both kinds 

 are cooked and sent to table. They can be used from October onwards during the 

 winter, but the roots should have some protection in hard weather. 



Seakale. This is a hardy British plant. Seakale, as its name implies, is partial to the 

 sea coast. But it thrives well in any ordinary garden soil, provided that be well prepared 

 for it. To obtain a supply or stock of roots, it is needful to sow seed. That can be 

 purchased cheaply. For its reception, ground should be trenched 2 feet deep and well 

 manured. Then, early in April, drills, 2 inches in depth, should be drawn with hoe 

 and line at 20 inches apart. Along these the seeds should be sown thinly, and then 

 covered up. It is not desirable, as the seed leaves are rather tender, that the plants 

 should be above ground until the middle of May. When all are up they should be 

 rigidly thinned out in the rows to 10 inches apart, as later on they need ample room. The 



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m 



SEAKALE 

 Untrimmed root. 2. Trimmed for forcing. 3. Root cutting for planting. 



ground needs to be kept well hoed as long as the strong leafage which will presently form 

 will allow, but later that will quite cover the ground. In the late autumn, being mature, 

 it will die away. In November the whole of the roots may be carefully lifted so as to 

 preserve them intact, then each one must be hard trimmed of all branching or side 

 roots cut off close to the main or tap root, which, when thus trimmed, should be about 

 8 inches long, and have a dormant crown at the tip. When trimming off all side 

 roots the pieces should be carefully laid one way, so that the upper ends be known. 

 But the first thing next to do is to chop down in the open ground with a spade a 

 trench or furrow, 8 inches deep, and nearly upright. Into this the crowns should be 

 placed on end upwards, quite close together, and some soil put up to them and 

 gently trodden, as well as a little over the crowns. All these roots may be, a few at a 

 time, through the winter put into boxes or tubs, or on the floor of a close, dark cellar, 

 or in any warm but quite dark place, in several inches of soil, and well watered, and 

 from each crown will come stems, that being in the dark will be blanched white and 

 tender, and when 7 inches long may be cut with a part of the crowns and cooked. It is 

 then a most delicious vegetable, and lasts, if there be plenty of roots, for some three or 

 four months. All the side roots trimmed off should then be made into proper root 

 cuttings. These should be from 4 to 5 inches long. The top part should be quite level, 

 and the lower part slanting. Then all these root cuttings should be stood into trenches just 

 deep enough to bury the tops when being placed thickly ; soil is put against them and a 

 little over them. Let that be done in November. Planting may be done at the end of March 

 or early in April. For the reception of these cuttings the ground should be well trenched 



