March 7, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
213 
READERS’ COMPETITION. 
For details of this competition and prize offered, please 
see page 209. Please post on Friday night. 
Seakale. 
This useful vegetable, known to botanists in its wild state as 
Crambe maritima, was at one time collected on the Sussex sea¬ 
shore and sold, the produce when forced differing but little from 
that grown in the ordinary way. Sometimes, too, in lonely parts 
of the shore a group of crowns would be covered with sand, and 
a really good dish obtained a few weeks later. 
Curiously enough, while other vegetables have been much 
improved, little appears to have been done in the case of Sea- 
kale. The variety known as Lily White, although of a more 
delicate flavour, finds but little favour with the majority of cul¬ 
tivators. Messrs. Veitch, in Beddard’s Improved, have advanced 
a step further, combining the flavour of the Lily White with the 
strong growth of the type ; its habit, too, is more compact. 
WheTe the same stock has been grown from root cuttings for 
some years a change is often desirable ; this may be obtained 
by seed. It should be sown in March or April in ground that has 
been well manured and dug the previous autumn. The drills 
should be 2ft. apart; the seeds are large and may be sown thinly. 
When the young plants appear, thin to 9in. apart, making use of 
the Dutch hoe between the rows to aerate the soil and prevent 
the attacks of slugs. As the plants attain size diluted liquid 
manure may be given, or nitrate of soda at the rate of 2oz. per 
square yard. In this way good crowns can be grown in one 
season, and when taken up the lower portions can be made into 
root cuttings. Choose pieces of good size and not less than 4in. 
long ; cut- the upper end off at a right angle, the lower or smaller 
end more sloping, tie them in bundles of twenty so that they can 
be more readily handled at planting time, stand them upright, and 
cover with sand. The method practised here is to plant at the 
same distance as for seedlings as early as possible, not waiting 
for the cuttings to sprout; fasten them firmly with a dibber, 
allowing about half an inch to protrude from the soil. This in 
turn is covered with a handful of sifted coal ashes, which keeps 
at bay all insect pests. After treatment consists in hoeing and 
manuring as for seedlings. 
For early forcing the roots should be lifted a week previous 
and allowed to- dry slightly. A mushroom house or warm cellar 
is a capital place in which to force and blanch the growth, but 
those who have not this convenience must make use of ferment¬ 
ing material to procure the necessary temperature (55deg. to 
60deg.). Forcing on the ground in special pots is an obsolete 
method, a better one being to form a series of temporary frames 
of board or galvanised iron not less than 1ft. 9in. high and a 
yard wide. Put in a few barrow-loads of soil, and place the 
crowns, prepared for forcing, about 4in. apart in it, water to 
settle the soil, and after putting boards on the top the whole 
can be covered with sufficient tree leaves to maintain the right 
temperature. Later on a suitable quantity of crowns can be 
stored behind a north wall and covered with coal ashes to a 
depth of 9in., thus prolonging the supply. J. C. 
Hints in Connection with Plants and Soils. 
It is a very poor soil indeed in which some plant or another 
does not flourish or even revel. In some cases, especially with 
regard to trees, they even grow to a gigantic size. Should the 
question be asked of the one in charge how these trees (or plants) 
were treated so as to produce such healthy specimens, in most 
cases the answer would be, “The soil and atmosphere” (sea or 
hill air as the case may be) “ seem to be the suitable food for 
their requirements. However, they are there as you see them, 
without receiving any special attention whatever.’’ Gardeners 
ought to learn from this that there are many kinds of soils, and 
that they ought to take special notice how some plants thrive 
better in one kind -than in another. Before planting any 
particular thing they ought to see that the soil contains a store 
of the ingredients adapted for the welfare of the plants which 
they intend to plant in it. When the proper chemical food 
is in the soil the plants will very soon show that this is the 
case by their free healthy growth and richly-coloured blooms. If 
the soil lacks the substances for which they have a craving, in 
a short time the plants will reveal the want by their sickly 
appearance, and sometimes even by their early death. Plants 
are not like animals, which can- roam about and choose their 
food ; they can only extract substances from the soil 1 within their 
reach. If it is a suitable food it will nourish them ; if the 
opposite, the chances are they will dwindle and die. Perhaps the 
soil may have been so poor and barren that starvation was the 
cause of their death, or it may be that the soil was saturated 
with poisons in which the plants could never thrive, and in the 
latter it might be said that they committed suicide. Another 
essential thing for most plants is sunshine, as many do not 
thrive well at all unless planted where they will get the full 
rays of the sun the greater part of the day. Others are very 
sensitive to the bad effects of stagnant or badly-drained soil, and 
refuse to grow in this, the temperature of such a soil being too 
low for them making fibre in, and consequently the growth is 
hindered or ceases altogether. It may be brought to a proper 
consistency for the plants, however, by mixing with peat, sand, 
leaf mould, manure, lime, etc. I have seen many plants visibly 
crippled in a sunless summer in -such soils, and several seasons 
may have to pass before they recover from the damage done in 
order to gain full vigour again. This occasionally happens with 
Peaches and the finer Boses, etc., outside. The maturation of 
the wood in these is not complete at the end of the season. Had 
they been in a moderately light soil the season’s growth would 
have been shorter and better ripened, and the winter’s frosts 
would not have damaged them to the same extent. Another 
cause may be the over richness of the- soil with manure. Most 
soils are more or less deficient in one or other essential pro¬ 
perties, but if the gardener makes up this deficiency he- will be 
rewarded by a production of plants with firm healthy foliage, and 
with better coloured blooms. J. C. Dick. 
Champfleurie, Linlithgow. 
Hints to Young Gardeners. 
Now, I should like) to give a few hints to young gardeners, 
youths, and young men who some day may fill very important 
positions in the gardening world. Try at all times to do your 
duty to your master, be very exacting as to time, be obedient, 
tidy in your dress and duties. Work cheerfully ; above all be 
truthful. If you do, depend upon it, when meal time comes you 
will be hungry. After your daily duties are finished take up a 
newspaper and read as much of it as you like. Take as many 
gardening newspapers as your purse will allow. Bead what every¬ 
body writes, because in doing so you are cultivating your 
memory, training your mind, and building yourself up to be a 
man of great importance some day. I do not mean that anybody 
should not have sport; have as much music as you like, also any 
other kind of sport that is good and is-ound. Above all, think 
you can do all those things, and try them well, and success is 
yours. 
The propagation of flowering plants is sometimes of a diffi¬ 
cult nature ; take, for instance, Euphorbia jacquiniaeflora. The 
best plan I ever tried for that was to place cuttings with heels 
attached to them in 6in. or 7in. pots in the usual way, and after 
watering them, put them inside larger pots, and cover over with a 
large square of glass to prevent drip coming in contact with the 
cuttings. There are many other plants of like nature which should 
be treated in the same way. Of course, that is a makeshift where 
no proper propagating pit exists. Fruit growing is a thing of 
which no one ever could tire when one recalls the splendid col¬ 
lections exhibited by Mr. Coleman (when at Eastnor Castle) at 
Manchester years ago. The perfect bloom and finish were simply 
grand ; and now yoir can get as good, or perhaps better, at 
Shrewsbury by another gentleman of high standing. Varieties 
of all fruits wisely selected are the first thing to- consider ; soils, 
watering, thinning, keeping insects down, and gathering are 
things you cannot study and act up to too much. To grow flowers 
well so-w seeds early, because if you have mishaps you can -sow 
again. Cover seeds according to size ; never over-water till the 
seedlings -are of some size ; carefully prick out and pot off. 
As with flowering plants, so with foliage plants ; find out how 
the roots are and apply water accordingly. If you want to be a 
flower grower and plan-tsonan, watering, I consider, -is more than 
half the battle in tha-t line. Study by all means what Mr. J. W. 
Machattie says about laying out in last week’s “ G. W.,” as I, 
like him, think that, is the weakest point of the gardener of the 
present day. G. M. 
Salvia Heerii. 
I feel sure that this Salvia is not so well known nor so largely 
grown as its merits deservehence my reason for bringing 'it 
under the notice of the readers of The Gardening World. Its 
first recommendation is- that it comes into bloom at a period 
(February and early March) when naturally-grown flowers are 
rather scarce. Then its brilliancy of colour is a second point in 
its favour, and, best of all, to those with limited means it is very 
