THE SEA-KALE. 



669 



may be dropped in patches of three or four along the drills, and the plants 

 thinned out to one plant in a place, soon after they come up. The first 

 winter's dressing may consist of some littery stable-manure, sea-weed, and 

 leaves, spread over the surface, which may be forked in early in the following 

 spring. This may be repeated the second autumn, increasing the thickness, 

 and the second sprmg a few stalks may be gathered. The third autumn the 

 dressing may be repeated ; or the rows may be covered with leaves alone, 

 with sand, or with soil dug out of the alleys, to the depth of six inches. 

 The third spring several stalks may be gathered from each plant ; and the 

 fourth spring the plantation will be in full bearing. Excepting in the first 

 spring after sowing, no spring dressing is required till May, after the 

 crop has been gathered. The London market-gardeners plant the sea-kale 

 in rows from four to six feet apart, and every autumn after the leaves have 

 died down to the surface, they dig a trench betv\-een the rows, and cover the 

 plants with soil to the depth of a foot. As the crop is gathered, the ridges 

 so formed are levelled down, and a crop planted between. By this mode 

 the whole produce of the plant is gathered at once, every part of it being 

 completely blanched and tender. (G. M.^ vol. ix.) 



1489. Gathering. — The points of the stems will appear above the leaves, 

 or other matters with which the plants have been covered the preceding au- 

 tumn, about the beginning or middle of March, according to the warmth of 

 the situation, and of the season. Remove the covering round such of the young 

 stems as are about three inches long, and cut them over half an inch above 

 the collar, taking care not to injure any of the buds which remain on the 

 plant, and which will immediately begin to swell. From four to six heads 

 or stalks, according to the size, make a dish, and they are sent to the kitchen 

 or the market tied together like asparagus. Three stout plants will aflFord 

 five dishes in a season ; and hence when the number of dishes required by 

 any family are known, one third added to their number will give the amount 

 of plants required for a plantation. A plantation will alBFord a succession of 

 gatherings for six weeks, after which period the plants should be uncovered, 

 and their leaves suffered to grow, in order to strengthen the roots for the 

 succeeding year. If very large and succulent sea-kale is required, gathering 

 should only be made ever}^ other year, and the plants should be manured 

 with stable dung or nightsoil. 



1490. The culture after gathering. — The leaves or dung with which the 

 plants were covered may be partly forked in, and partly carried away ; water 

 supplied abundantly in very dry weather, including liquid manure if thought 

 necessary, and the blossoms stripped from all the plants not required to pro- 

 duce seed. By the end of October the leaves and stems will be decayed, 

 when the winter covering should be given as before directed. 



1491. Diseases and insects give little trouble in cultivatmg the sea-kale, 

 because the crop is generally gathered before the insect season. The ex- 

 panded leaves, however, are sometimes attacked by the caterpillars of moths 

 and buttei-flies, and by the turnip-fly, both of which may be subdued by 

 abundant watering with lime-water. 



1492. The duration of a plantation of sm-J^ale is in general six or eight 

 years ; but as the roots, v.hen cut over below the collar, send up abundance 

 of buds, even when the heart of the root is decayed, by a little care in pro- 

 curing fresh sprouts from the roots, a plantation might be continued on the 

 same ground for an indefinite period. 



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