212 KITCHEN GARDEN. 
With the aid of these pots, sea-kale is forced in the open 
border in the way now to be described. In the latter end 
of autumn a bed of vigorous sea-kale plants is dressed, that 
is, the stalks are cut over, and the decayed leaves are re- 
moved, The ground is, at the same time, loosened about 
the eyes, and a thin stratum of gravel or sifted coal-ashes 
is laid on the surface to keep down earth-worms. A pot 
with a movable cover is placed over each plant or each patch 
of plants. Stable-litter is then closely packed all round 
the pots, and raised up to about a foot above them; the 
whole bed thus assuming the form and appearance of a large 
hot-bed. When fermentation begins, a thermometer should 
be occasionally introduced into a few of the pots, to ascer- 
tain that the temperature within does not exceed 60° Fah- 
renheit, and the depth of the litter is to be regulated 
accordingly. The vegetation of the included plants is 
speedily promoted ; so that, in the space of a month or six 
weeks, the shoots will be ready for cutting, which being 
thus excluded from the light, are most effectually blanched, 
and found to be exceedingly tender and crisp. By means 
of the movable lids, the plants are examined and the shoots 
gathered without materially disturbing the litter. By com- 
mencing the litter coverings at various times, on different 
portions of the quarter, a supply of sea-kale for the table 
can be readily furnished from the middle of November till 
the middle of May. : 
This vegetable, though not as well known in the United 
States as it deserves to be, can be raised with very little 
‘trouble. The seed may be sown thinly in March, or in 
April, in drills about a foot apart, and covered about an 
inch deep. When the plants begin to grow, thin out so as 
to leave them at first an inch, and afterwards two or three 
inches apart. In November, cover the crowns of the roota 
