GARDENING FOR ALL. 79 
As these cuttings are taken from the parent plants, the 
lower portion should be cut slanting, and the top should be 
cut square across, this is for the purpose of readily dis- 
tinguishing the top from the bottom after they have been laid 
aside. These may be tied in bundles and buried several 
inches deep in sand, soil, or ashes, keeping the crown end 
uppermost, and just exposing these to air and light. 
In April these cuttings must be planted on rich soil, and 
at distances apart to be regulated by the system of culture 
adopted. If to be lifted for forcing during the winter, then 
they may be planted in rows twenty or twenty-two inches 
apart; but if the roots are to grow and the crop to be cut 
direct from the ground, then the rows must be thirty inches 
apart. 
Plant the cuttings with a dibber and cover with nearly 
an inch of soil, having previously removed all but two or 
three young shoots to each crown. When the plants are 
established and growing, remove all the shoots but one upon 
each plant, and the one left ought to be the strongest and 
best. 
If the weather is dry at the time of planting, water must 
be applied freely until the plants are established. The after 
culture will consist of hoeing freely to keep down weeds and 
to encourage rapid growth. Salt is a good manure for 
seakale and may be used at the rate of ten or twelve 
hundredweight per acre. 
Roots may be lifted for forcing as soon as the foliage has 
decayed in November if required. Plant the roots thus 
lifted, in dark sheds, mushroom-house, or boxes, and let the 
roots be from four to six inches apart ; give a good watering, 
and in a month or six weeks—according to the temperature 
—the seakale will be ready for cutting. In February and 
March it may be had in a fortnight or three weeks after 
planting in the mushroom house. 
The out-door culture simply consists of digging a trench 
or furrow between each row of seakale before it commences 
to grow, and placing the soil over each crown, and thus form 
a continuous ridge about nine inches high over the seakale. 
Excellent blanched seakale is thus obtained, and it is cut as 
soon as the tips begin to show through the soil, this being 
cleared away at the time of cutting. 
