THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 85 
.but when the forcing of asparagus and seakale becomes a 
matter of settled routine, there must be established a routine 
culture of roots for the purpose, and it will be found necessary 
to sow seed every spring, and carry on the culture nursery 
fashion. 
It is generally represented that these plants require an 
extravagantly rich soil — that is to say, a soil loaded with 
stable manure — and that the cultivation is complicated and 
costly from first to last. This is an injurious mistake, for 
although these are certainly not to be regarded as vegetables 
suitable to the circumstances of a cottager, they may be pro- 
duced in plenty, and of the finest quality, in any middle-class 
garden, and will make an ample return in money value for all 
reasonable expenditure incurred in their cultivation. Their 
one grand requirement is a deep soil. It should not be water- 
logged, and it may with advantage be made fat with manure, 
and the better every way by the addition of sand, unless it is 
already sandy in the staple. But the main requirement is 
not fatness or sandiness, or anything else in respect of either 
chemical or mechanical peculiarity. The main requirement 
is depth , and it follows, of course, that on a soil naturally 
shallow, some kind of stuff must be added to make root 
room for these far-rooting plants. A rich deep sandy soil 
suits them both perfectly, but as fine samples as ever were 
seen may be grown on clay land, provided a little care is 
taken in the first instance to humour the plants in the pre- 
paration of the beds. 
Seakale, Grambe maritima requires a deep good soil, a 
quite open situation, and sufficient space for the full develop- 
ment of its large handsome leaves. Prepare the bed by 
trenching and manuring, and sow seed in March and April, 
or plant roots in September. In strong lands the plants 
should be a yard apart every way, but the usual distance 
allowed is two feet. Our beds are six feet wide, with two-feet 
alleys between, and there are two rows of plants. In sowing 
seed, put in two or three seeds where a plant should be, and 
as soon as they have made a good start, thin them out, 
leaving ultimately only one at each station. The clump 
system is a bad system, for it groups together several plants 
where there is room only for one, and as one strong stool in 
its third year will supply as many handsome heads as will 
fill three market punnets, it is a pity to crowd the plants 
