VEGETABLE GROWING 415 



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 

 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 he 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 and manured, as is so constantly advised. The cuttings should be dibbled 

 into it in rows 20 inches apart, and 12 inches apart in the rows, to give ample room. The 

 tops of the cuttings should be buried half an inch in the ground. When, in a few weeks, 

 leaves appear, each root should be gone over, and all but one crown removed. The 

 ground must be well hoed, and one dressing of salt or nitrate, at the rate of 5 Ib. 

 per rod, well hoed in, will do great good. The roots will have to be lifted and treated 

 each winter just as advised for the seedlings, and trimmed, root cuttings being preserved 

 and again planted in fresh soil. In that way it is easy to have hundreds of roots to 

 blanch during the winter, arid no vegetable is mere profitable. To have some late 

 blanched growths, some of the rows, if only one or two, may be left in the ground, and 

 early in March have some light, loose soil placed over them in a ridge, and 9 inches deep. 

 When the ground shows signs of cracking, rows should be cut from at one end until all 

 are consumed. These roots may remain to produce crowns if desired for the following 

 winter. 



Shallots are small, fairly hardy bulbs, members of the Onion tribe, that are grown 

 yearly by the aid of small bulbs or offsets, planted in beds or in rows, 12 inches apart, in 

 February. The ground for these bulbs should be deeply dug, and moderately manured. 

 Planting may be done in the autumn, but early in February is the safest time to do so. 

 If planted in a bed, let the rows be 12 inches apart, putting in the bulbs at 6 inches apart. 

 These should not be of the largest or smallest, but those of medium size and good 

 form. It is but needful to press each bulb down firmly into the soil, so that its top is just 

 covered. Growth soon begins. Several stems usually grow, and each one forms a bulb 

 at the base, so that when the tops die down and the bulbs are ripe, ready to lift in July, 

 they are in the form of clusters of some seven to nine in number. If, after planting, sharp 



