122 SEA-KALE. 



SEA-KALE. 



This delicious vegetable is not much grown in this coun- 

 try, but is well worth cultivation. It can be grown either 

 from cuttings of the roots or from seeds. 



It likes a deep sandy loam, highly manured and well 

 trenched, as its roots penetrate deeply into the soil. The 

 seeds may be sown either in October or early in the spring, 

 in hills two feet apart in row and three feet between the 

 rows. Sow six or eight seeds an inch and a half or two 

 inches deep in each hill, and when the plants are well up, 

 thin them out to three or four in each. When grown from 

 cuttings of the roots, cut up some old roots into pieces 

 three or four inches long, and plant, in March or April, 

 three or four inches deep, in hills, as directed for those 

 grown from seeds. They may also be grown in rows three 

 feet apart, and the plants set eighteen inches apart on the 

 row. In this case it is well to sow the seeds or plant the 

 cuttings in a nursery bed, setting them, or thinning them 

 out to six or eight inches apart, and transplanting them 

 the following spring. 



In the autumn, when the leaves have decayed, the plants 

 should have a covering, four to six inches thick, of manure, 

 leaves or sea- weed ; this protects them from the bad effects 

 of freezing and thawing, and causes them to start earlier 

 in the spring. When the frost is out of the ground, this 

 may be taken off, or, if rotten enough, may be forked in. 

 The plants are then to be covered to a depth of ten or 

 twelve inches with sand, peat or some similar material, to 

 blanch the shoots as they grow. Some invert large gar- 

 den pots over the plants and blanch them in that way. In 

 three or four weeks after this is done the shoots will prob- 

 ably be fit to cut ; but this should" not be done until they 



