48 Cultivation of Sea-kale at Bath. 



should too many stems arise from the main root, they must be cut 

 off. As soon as the plants cease to produce abundantly, new beds 

 are to be made ; the seeds for which may be saved from a few of 

 the finest plants, by leaving their heads entirely uncovered. 



To dress Sea-kale. — Mr. Gibbs, the eminent pastry-cook and 

 restaurateur at Bath, favoured me with the following method of 

 dressing sea-kale : — Tie the sea-kale in bundles, boil it in plenty 

 of water with a little salt in it, for 20 minutes, observing to let 

 the water boil before it is put in ; have a toast ready, dip it in 

 the water, put it on the dish and the sea-kale upon it ; pour a 

 little white sauce over it, consisting of an equal quantity of veal 

 gravy and cream thickened with flour and butter. If desired, 

 a less rich sauce may be made by leaving out the gravy, and 

 substituting milk for the cream. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c. 



Walter William Capper. 

 Hanley, near Malvern, Worcestershire, Dec. 12. 1833. 



The excellence of the sea-kale sold in the Bath market is well 

 known. The specimen sent to us by Mr. Capper, two years 

 ago, was of a very superior description ; the heads were much 

 larger than are usually seen about London, and much more suc- 

 culent. We found it also much richer in taste when dressed. 

 It is easy to conceive that sea-kale, grown in loamy manured 

 soil, will have a richer taste than such as grows in a wild state 

 among the barren sands of a sea-shore, or is grown in sandy 

 soil in a garden. In the two latter cases, the soil must be de- 

 ficient in the nutritive matter requisite to produce that degree of 

 richness, joined to succulency, which is so desirable in this vege- 

 table, and which the Bath gardeners succeed so well in produc- 

 ing. The Bath mode of growing this vegetable we have seen 

 practised by some market-gardeners about Fulham, and also in 

 some private gardens, but it is by no means so general as it de- 

 serves to be. Perhaps it may be alleged against this mode of 

 culture that the thick covering of soil put over the plants will 

 retard their progress in spring more than the usual coverings of 

 sand, ashes, or blanching-pots: because the sun's rays will pene- 

 trate through the latter more readily than through the former: 

 but, admitting this to be the case (which, no doubt, it will be, 

 to a certain extent), the saving of the first expense and annual 

 breakage of these blanching-pots, and the superiority of the 

 article produced, will surely afford ample compensation for the 

 retardation of the crop for a week or ten days. It will be seen 

 that sea-kale can be grown in the Bath manner with the greatest 

 ease at any season, by covering the rows with warm dung, more 

 especially if that dung be partially or wholly protected from 

 rain. — Cond. 



