86 the amateur’s kitchen garden. 
and diminish the production. All the rest is easy work. 
You will keep down weeds of course, and you will be wise to 
blanch the crop on the ground, and to abstain from forcing 
until you have had some experience, which you will find very 
easy and agreeable wrnrk. You may supply the plants while 
growing with any amount of water or clarified sewage ; but 
if you cannot irrigate you need not be troubled, for this 
thrifty plant has a way of taking care of itself, provided only 
it can obtain a deep root hold in the heart of the world. 
Forcing Seakale in the Open Ground is a very easy 
matter. In the course of the autumn the dead leaves should 
be cleared off and the ground strewed with a thick coat of 
salt between the stools. This will kill the vermin and nourish 
the roots. Some time during winter put on the seakale pots 
and cover the bed with leaves and other such clean litter. 
In this process the pots must be buried, to screen them from 
frost. It will depend upon the weather when you will begin 
to cut, but you will have a fine sample by this process if the 
roots are strong, and you may expect supplies from the 
middle of March to the end of April. It must be remembered 
that in any case seakale must be blanched when it is intended 
to be cut, and, as a rule, it is not desirable to blanch a bed 
raised from seeds until the third season, that is to say, when 
the plant has had two seasons of growth and is entering on the 
third. If we sow in the spring of 1876, we begin to cut in 
the spring of 1878, and thenceforward cut annually until the 
beds begin to decline. 
Forcing in Frames is accomplished in a variety of ways, 
but the plant is so manageable that convenience is a matter 
for first consideration. For an early supply the following 
plan may be recommended : Make up a bed for a small two- 
light frame, using tree leaves with a little fermented manure 
just to form the outsides, to bring the bed into shape. For 
small families New Year’s Day will be quite soon enough to 
commence. The leaves, etc., are well beaten with a fork as 
the work of making up is going on. A height of four feet at 
back, and three and a-half feet in front, will give out sufficient 
heat for the purpose, as not more than a bottom-heat of 60° 
is wanted ; indeed, anything above 60° will induce a weak 
growth. This bed may be made in any out-of-the-way 
corner of the garden or frame-ground, and after it has been 
made a few days, put in about six inches of leaf-soil. This 
