106 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



it may stand without injury has never 

 been accurately ascertained. 



A portion, however, of the crops should 

 be covered early in November, so that it 

 may be got readily at during winter, to 

 take up for forcing. Some of the London 

 market-gardeners grow their sea-kale for 

 permanent crops in rows from 4 to 6 feet 

 apart, and in autumn, after the foliage 

 has fallen off, they cover the crowns with 

 soil dug from the alleys to the depth of a 

 foot or 15 inches, by which means they 

 procure it finely blanched in spring, and 

 at little expense. As soon as this crop 

 is cut, they level down the ridges, and 

 crop with other things between the rows. 

 Remove every flower-spike as it appears, 

 for the production of seed is much harder 

 upon the energies of the plant than taking 

 a crop/rom it. 



Soil and manure. — In a cultivated state, 

 sea-kale does not appear to be very par- 

 ticular about either, succeeding in most, 

 provided the former be sufficiently deep 

 and dry at the bottom, and that the latter 

 be rich and incorporated with saline mat- 

 ter. Deep trenching where the land will 

 admit of it is important, and where that 

 is not naturally the case it may be ren- 

 dered so by excavating broad alleys be- 

 tween the beds, and elevating them with 

 the material taken out. 



Forcing. — From the middle of Novem- 

 ber till it comes into use in the open air, 

 this vegetable may be had in great per- 

 fection, at a season when other choice 

 vegetables are scarce, and this at little 

 trouble or expense. In former practice 

 it was recommended to force the crop in 

 the ground on which it grows ; than this 

 there can scarcely be a more unsatisfac- 

 tory, uncertain, and expensive process 

 recommended. The objections we should 

 state are, the waste of manure in pro- 

 ducing the necessary heat by fermenta- 

 tion, the waste of time in carrying in 

 and out, turning over and adding to the 

 material, the uncertainty of the heat 

 produced, the expense of blanching- pots, 

 open wooden cages, or whatever other 

 means may be used to separate the fer- 

 menting material from the crowns of the 

 plants ; the deterioration in flavour, the 

 trouble in examining the state of the crop 

 and of gathering it, and lastly, the injury 

 inflicted on the plants by keeping them 

 so long in a state of excitement. To 



avoid much of all this, and at the same 

 time to insure a certain return within a 

 given time, the best method is to adopt 

 the lifting or taking-up process. To pre- 

 pare the plants for this, forms, as in the 

 case of taking up asparagus, an important 

 element in the rotation of crops. Plants 

 should be grown for the special purpose : a 

 seed-bed should be sown annually, from 

 which to transplant the young plants in 

 March into lines, in ground deeply 

 trenched and abundantly enriched, setting 

 them 3 feet apart row from row, and 15 

 inches in the line. If these are stimu- 

 lated abundantly during the season after 

 planting, care being taken that they do 

 not form flower-stalks, and that all lateral 

 buds are displaced as they appear on the 

 sides of the main stems, throwing the 

 whole energy of the plant into the centre 

 bud or crown, the roots will be in excellent 

 condition for taking up for forcing as soon 

 as their buds are fully matured, and the 

 foliage has died away, which with us, in 

 general, is about the beginning of Novem- 

 ber. The roots should then be carefully 

 taken up, carrying with them as many of 

 the small fibres as possible : soil is of 

 little consequence, except in so far as it 

 may be conducive to the preservation of 

 the roots. For although these are not 

 much required for the natural purpose of 

 collecting food for the plant, under the 

 treatment to which they ai-e to be sub- 

 jected, they are valuable, inasmuch as 

 they, along with the bud and stem, con- 

 tain the elaborated matter formed during 

 the past summer, and hold it in store for 

 the formation of the shoots and leaves, 

 which the excitement of a moderate tem- 

 perature and slight humidity will call into 

 action. The best situation in which to 

 place the roots is on the floor of a regular 

 mushroom-house, or, in the absence of it, 

 the floor of a cellar, outhouse, or enclosed 

 shed, into either of which a sHght tem- 

 perature can be thrown by means of a 

 hot-water pipe or otherwise. The advan- 

 tage of such places is, that while the 

 necessary heat can be applied, light may 

 be sufficiently excluded to insure blanch- 

 ing, while air to a certain extent is ad- 

 mitted, which is of no small consequence 

 to the crop. In such places also the pro- 

 gress of the crop can readily be ascer- 

 tained, and the gathering effected with 

 facility. It matters little what the soil is 



