KITCHEN-GARDEN VEGETABLES. 
may have more light and air. If some very 
large sprouts are intended to be grown, the 
plants should be kept far apart. In the autumn 
the leaves should be removed as they decay, 
and, when all are cleared off, the ground should 
be forked over, and a covering of leaves 6 or 
8 inches thick placed over the plants, and on 
Fig. 1282.—Sea-Kale (Crambe maritima). 
this some litter should be put, to prevent the 
leaves from being blown away. If leaves are 
not at command, the plants may be covered with 
a layer of light soil, and by this means they will 
be blanched, though not forced. 
Instead of sowing the seed in a nursery-bed, 
and transplanting the year-old seedlings, some 
prefer sowing in patches, at the proper distances, 
where the plants are to remain for produce. 
This is certainly the more natural mode, and 
well-established plants can be obtained by it; 
the only objection is the loss of the ground for 
a year. The plants should be allowed to follow 
their natural mode of growth during the first 
summer ; but after the winter is over, the crowns 
of every plant should be pared off, as was re- 
commended in transplanting, to prevent the 
formation of flowering stems. In the second 
spring after sowing a portion may be forced or 
merely blanched if required. 
Plantations are now generally made from root 
cuttings, for any part of these will push shoots 
and form a plant. The extremities of the roots 
of plants taken up for forcing in November, 
or subsequently, answer very well. Being the 
younger portions of the roots, they ultimately 
DLE 
make better plants than would result from 
transplanting the older and thicker parts. 
These thongs, or extremities of the roots, should 
be taken only from healthy plants, and should 
be about 4 inches in length, cut flat at the top 
or thickest end and slanting at the other end, 
and then tied in bundles of fitty. By the mid- 
dle of April they will have commenced sprout- 
ing and forming roots, when they ought to be 
planted with a dibber 15 inches apart in rows 
20 inches apart, taking care to sink them just 
below the surface. Most of the cuttings will 
attempt to push out several sprouts, but these 
must early be thinned to a single growth in 
each case, otherwise the crowns will be small. 
Should the weather be dry during the first few 
days after planting, water ought to be given, 
but after they are once growing strongly, 
merely keeping the surface of the ground 
free of weeds by means of an occasional hoang 
will be all that is needed to produce fine crowns 
for lifting and forcing; they may be lifted and 
stored in sand or moist soil till wanted, or until 
planting time in spring. 
Forcing.—Sea-Kale is easily forced either in 
mild hot-beds, frames, benders and mats, or in 
Mushroom-houses, where it can be kept in dark- 
ness. Batches of roots can every few days be 
packed together closely in rich loamy soil, and 
will produce fairly strong growths in the course 
of about three weeks—more or less according 
to the heat kept up. If placed near to hot-water 
pipes the soil should never be allowed to become 
dry, and a second cutting of serviceable growths 
may then be had. 
A little heat is sufficient to excite vegeta- 
tion, for, with a mean temperature of 42°, it 
pushes naturally in the open ground, and when 
the mean of the air and of the soil reaches 55°, 
the growth is as vigorous as can be desired, 
and therefore, in forcing, this mean temperature 
ought not to be exceeded. In cases of emer- 
gency, when produce must be had in a certain 
limited period, 60° may be applied; but this 
should be the maximum. 
If forcing is to be carried on where the plants 
are established in the open ground, the soil 
ought not to be allowed te get frozen in the 
autumn or winter previous to forcing. It is 
easy to prevent this by a covering of litter; but 
if the soil is allowed to get frozen, it takes much 
heat to raise the temperature to even 42°, which 
we may term the starting-point in forcing this 
vegetable, for at this temperature it will be in 
a manner dormant. Top and bottom heat 
should correspond, for at the time of the year 
