CULTURE OF SEA-CALE. 
439 
the absence of that material, road sand, which contains a good portion 
of carbonate of lime, and they sprinkle a little salt, perhaps about 
half or three quarters of a pound to each square yard. Some place 
pots or boxes over the crowns, on the top of this covering of ashes, 
&c. Others place them without the use of any covering of ashes, 
&c. merely laying a portion of sand upon the crown within the pot, 
to keep the blanched shoots clean. When it is required to be gra¬ 
dually forced, the crowns are covered with large pots, either made for 
the purpose, or common garden pots inverted, the draining hole 
being stopped, and the whole covered with leaves and litter. If pots 
cannot be readily obtained, boxes will answer equally well. Some, 
however, consider either pots or boxes unnecessary, and merely cover 
the roots, about three feet thick, with leaves or litter. Others take 
up the roots, and either plant them in boxes, or plunge them in the 
old bark or soil, in a pit, frame, or house, where they will receive a 
moderate heat, or even in a dark cellar where they will be free from 
frost. By this system they will produce pretty well, with but little 
trouble ; but many roots are destroyed every year. The usual method 
of propagation is by seed, which, I think, is the best, although many 
give preference to planting small portions of the root, cut into lengths 
of from three to live inches, to be planted in drills, like potatoe sets, 
about the end of March or beginning of April. Others prefer that 
the sets should not exceed an inch long. One system adopted by 
those who prefer raising from seeds, is to sow the seeds thinly on 
a bed, in an open situation, and, when the plants have formed a few 
of the first leaves, to take them carefully up, and shorten the roots to 
about eight inches long, planting them in rows four feet apart, and 
nine inches from plant to plant in the rows, in ground previously 
prepared for the purpose, placing the crowns about two inches below 
the surface. At the end of the first year, they may be forced, and 
at the end of two years, every other plant in each row may be taken 
up and planted in any other situation eighteen inches apart. Others 
object to forcing the first year, and also to transplanting; they prefer 
sowing the seeds in the situations where the plants are to stand regu¬ 
larly. Having divided the ground into beds four feet wide, with 
alleys eighteen inches wide, at the distance of two feet every way, 
sow a few seeds in a circle of about four inches diameter, and as soon 
as they have made three or four leaves, thin them out, leaving only 
three of the best plants in a triangular form, which by some are 
forced the first year, by others the second, and by others not until 
the third year. All agree as to the nature of the soil, viz., that it 
should be light and sandy, well trenched, and, if very wet, well 
