Book I. 



SEA-KALE. 



649 



and light, it must be made so artificially by adding a due proportion of fine white sand, 

 and very rotten vegetable mould ; if your ground is w^et in winter, it must be effectually 

 drained, so that no water may stand within a foot at least of the bottom ; for the strength 

 of your plants depends on tlie dryness of the bottom, and richness of your soil. Then 

 divide the ground into beds, four feet wide, with alleys of .eighteen inches, after which 

 at the distance of every two feet each way, sow five or six seeds two inches deep, in a 

 circle of about four inches in diameter : this operation must be performed with strict 

 caie and regularity, as the plants are afterwards to be covered with blanching-pots, 

 and both the health and beauty of the crop depend upon their standing at equal dis~ 

 tan-' ss. In the months of May and June, if the seeds are sound, the young plants will 

 appear. When they have made three or four leaves, take away all but three of the best 

 plants from each circle, planting out those you pull up (which by a ca,jeful hand may be 

 drawn with all their tap-root,) in a spare bed for extra forcing, or to repair accidents. 

 The turnip-fly and wire-worm are great enemies tQ the whole class of tetradynamia 

 plants. I know no remedy for the latter, but picking them out of the ground by hand ; 

 the former may be prevented from doing much damage, by a circle of quick-lime strewed 

 I'ound the young plants. If the months of June and July prove dry, water the whole 

 beds plentifully. In the following November, as soon as the leaves are decayed, clear 

 them away, and cover the beds an inch thick with fresh light earth and sand, that has lain 

 in a heap and been turned over at least three times the preceding summer ; this, and 

 indeed all composts, should be kept scrupulously free from weeds, many of which nourish 

 insects, and the compost is too often filled with their eggs and grubs. Upon this dress- 

 ing of sandy loam, throw about six inches in depth of light stable-litter, which finishes 

 every thing to be done the first year. In the spring of the second year, when the plants 

 are beginning to push, rake off the stable-litter, digging a little of the most rotten into 

 the alleys, and add another inch in depth of fresh loam and sand. Abstain from cutting 

 this year, though some of the plants will probably rise very strong, treating the beds the 

 succeeding winter exactly as before. The third season, a little before the plants begin to 

 stir, rake off the winter covering, laying on now an inch in depth of pure dry sand or 

 fine gravel. Then cover each parcel with one of the blanching-pots, pressing it very 

 firmly into the ground, so as to exclude all light and air ; for the color and flavor of the 

 sea- kale is greatly injured by being exposed to either." 



3903. Barton, in the autumn, covers all the sea-kale beds, excepting the roots intended to be taken up 

 for forcing, with leaves, as they are raked up from tile pleasure-grounds ; covering each bed in thickness 

 according to the strength and age of the roots, giving the greatest covering to the oldest, upon an average 

 from five inches to a foot when first laid on : over this, I place a slight covering of long dung, just sutri- 

 cient to keep the leaves from being blown about. The covering is suffered to remain on the beds until 

 the whole is cut for use the following spring ; after which the dung and leaves may be removed, and the 

 ground dug regularly over. By this treatment, the heads will be found free and well blanched, and, from 

 the sweetness of the leaves, free from any unpleasant flavor. As the heads become ready for use, they 

 will raise the covering, by which means they will be easily perceived, without removing any more of the 

 covering than the part where those heads are that are intended to be cut. Those beds which have had 

 the thickest covering of leaves in autumn, come first into use, and the others in rotation; so that the 

 last cutting is from v/hat was sown the spring before. Aware that cutting from one-year-old plants 

 is generally disapproved of, Barton defends the practice from his experience of its not proving injurious, 

 and because thereby the sea-kale season is prolonged, as the one-year-old plants "come in much later in 

 spring than the old-established roots." {Caled. Hort. Mem.) 



.S904. Talcing the crop. Cut the young stems, when about three inches above ground, 

 carefully, so as not to injure any of the remaining buds below, some of which will 

 immediately begin to swell. A succession of gatherings may be continued for the space 

 of six weeks, after which period the plants should be uncovered, and their leaves suffered 

 to grow, that they may acquire and return nutriment to the root for the next year's 

 buds. The flowers, when seeds are not wanted, ought to be nipped off with the finger 

 and thumb, as long as they appear. {Hort. Trans, vol. i. ) 



3905. Forcing sea-kale. No vegetable is more easily or more cheaply forced than sea- 

 kale, whether the operation be performed in beds or drills in the open air, or in hot-bed 

 frames or flued pits. 



3906. Abercrombie, Nicol, and Maker recommend forcing in beds in the open air. " Seven weeks," 

 the former observes, " before the time at which you wish to cut shoots for the table, begin to prepare 

 the plants for forcing, and to ferment a sufficient quantity of fresh stable-dung. Having trimmed the 

 leaves from the plants, carefully point the surface of the ground; and over the tops of the roots, spread 

 fresh light earth, mixed with drift-sand or coal-ashes, two or three inches in depth. When the dung is 

 well prepared, which will be in about three weeks, proceed to the forcing. If you mix tree-leaves with 

 the dung, begin to ferment them a week or a fortnight sooner. Cover each of the plants, either with a 

 regular blanching-pot, or with a garden-pot of the largest size. When the latter is employed, stop the 

 hole with a cork, and cement it with clay, to keep out both the weather and the rank steam from the 

 lining. Then lay a portion of prepared dung alone or mixed with tree-leaves, about and over each pot, 

 pressing it down firm, extending it eight or ten inches all round, and raising the bank six or eight inches 

 above the pot. It will be necessary to examine the plants frequently, and to measure the heat within 

 the covers now and then, lest, by some inadvertency, the quantity of litter should not have been well-ap. 

 portioned, or rightly prepared. If the heat be under 50'', there is not enough heat to excite the plants ; 

 and if above 60"^, it is too fiery and may injure them. In about three weeks or a month after being 

 covered up, the first shoots will be from six to ten inches long, and fit for the table. If the plant send up 

 a flower-stalk, cut it away ; and successive supplies of shoots will be produced, till perhaps the end of th& 

 third month from beginning to force." 



