SEA KALE. 577 



The seeds should be sown upon a cool moist bed or 

 border, in April ; and when the plants appear, they will 

 require no further trouble than to keep them clean from 

 weeds. 



65. SEA KALE. 



Crambe Maritima, or Sea Kale, is a hardy peren- 

 nial, a native of various parts of the shores of Britain. 



The plant has not long been introduced into public 

 use as a dinner vegetable. 



Mr. London says, " Jones, of Chelsea, assured the 

 late Mr. Curtis that he saw bundles of it, in a cultivated 

 state, exposed for .sale in Chichester market in 1J53." 

 About the year 1767 it was cultivated by Dr. Lettsom, 

 at Grove Hill, and by him brought into general notice 

 in the neighbourhood of London. Sea Kale is a choice 

 and delicate vegetable, is of the most ready culture, and 

 bears forcing remarkably well. Its seeds should be 

 sown in March or April, thinly, upon a bed in an open 

 part of the garden, keeping the plants clean from weeds 

 through the summer. In the following spring they 

 should be taken up carefully, and, shortening the roots 

 to eight or nine inches, they should be planted out in 

 rows, on good, well-trenched ground, in rows four feet 

 apart, and the plants at eighteen inches* distance from 

 each other, placing the crowns of the roots two inches 

 below the surface. This may be considered as a regular 

 distance for the crop : but a smaller-sized root may be 

 planted between each of the others, as an intermediate 

 plant, which will increase the crop for the first two or 

 three years, without injuring the rest ; afterwards they 

 may be removed, leaving the original number at eighteen 

 inches apart. 



At the end of the first year after planting out, the 

 heads may be forced, by means of large pots being 

 placed over the crowns, and covered with hot. dung. 



p P 



