somewhat lyrate, and the rest roundish acute; 
the flowers grow in dense terminal clusters, and 
are fragrant and have a milk-white colour with 
a yellowish centre, and bloom in May and June; 
and the silicles are round, smooth, and about 
the size of black currants, and contain each a 
single seed. 
The inhabitants of the coasts on which sea- 
kale grows wild have, from time immemorial, 
been in the habit of searching for its young 
shoots as they emerge from the sand and gravel, 
and cutting them under the surface, and using 
them as a highly esteemed and delicate pot vege- 
table. Boys also procure them, in a hazardous 
manner, from the crevices of sea-cliffs, by letting 
themselves down from above with ropes. Yet 
sea-kale, in all the circumstances of its wild con- 
dition, even when obtained in the most tender 
and blanched state, is merely a species of green 
kale; while it can be rendered by culture an ex- 
ceedingly delicate vegetable, of the same cate- 
| gory of esculents as asparagus, but preceding that 
| choice plant in the season, and combining much of 
its peculiar flavour with that of the best bore- 
cole or chou de Milan. The young spring shoots 
rising from the root are the chief parts used ; 
and they have a thick substance, and, when arti- 
_ ficially well blanched and cut in a sufficiently 
early stage of their growth, they are both tender 
and finely flavoured. The ribs of the large leaves, 
also, are peeled and dressed like asparagus. 
Sea-kale was sent from England to the Con- 
tinent, by Lobel and Turner, before the middle 
of the 16th century ; yet it was botanically de- 
scribed for the first time by Miller in 1731; and 
was not brought into repute as a garden vege- 
table till Dr. Lettsom introduced its cultivation 
in 1767. But it has now a place in almost every 
_ good or extensive private kitchen garden; and it 
_ forms a profitable article of attention with mar- 
| ket-gardeners, generally meeting a ready sale, 
and bearing a comparatively high price. 
| quires some peculiarity of treatment, yet can be 
It re- 
quite easily cultivated; and, while so perfectly 
_ hardy as to withstand any ordinary frost, it is 
one of the finest possible subjects for forcing, al- 
_ Ways possessing more crispness and delicacy when 
| forced than when raised in the natural way. It 
| can be raised from seeds, and brought to the 
table early in the second year after sowing ; and 
it can likewise be multiplied, and modified, and 
| propagated abundantly, at any season of the 
year, by means of offsets from the shoots or divi- 
sion of the roots, and then transplanted, trench- 
ed, and blanched. The following directions for 
cultivating it are taken from a paper by Mr. 
Towers, the well-known author of the Domestic 
Gardener’s Manual :— 
““The soil, as indicated by the native situation 
and habits of the plant, should be light and sandy, 
with a slight addition of mild lime, muriate of soda, 
and wood ashes. ‘The beds ought to be prepared as 
SASUKE os and of a light sandy turf, with a na- 
SHA-KALE. 
tural manuring of sea-weed alone, or artificially with 
one-fourth of a compost consisting of perfectly re. 
duced fern, or leaf-mould, nine parts, wood ashes, 
one part, and about half a pound of common salt to 
every barrow-load of the compost. This last chemi- 
cal compound contains a large proportion of the com- 
ponents of sea-water, and the wood ashes yield car- 
bonate of lime in its most effective state, also some 
carbonate of potash and fine silex. Three barrows 
of light sandy turf, and one barrow of the above com- 
post, give proportions which promise to yield a me- 
dium of growth of the most permanent and effective 
character. In it sea-kale and asparagus might be 
grown for forcing, either side by side, or in separate 
plots. But if neither turf nor sea-weed can be ob- 
tained, good kale can be produced in any light gar- 
den soil, trenched in the same manner as for aspara.- 
gus beds, and manured copiously with wood (not 
coal) ashes, and the preseribed quantity of common 
salt. All the difference in the two beds is this, that 
for sea-kale, or forced asparagus, the plot of ground 
should be large enough to permit the plants to stand 
in single rows 3 or 4 feet apart. ‘The rows may be 
of any required length according to the quantity 
likely to be consumed. Supposing that 6 or 8 rows, 
each 12 feet long, be required, then the ground is 
either to be trenched 20 inches deep at the least, or 
digged out and replaced with the enriched turf; and 
the work ought to be completed before March, so as 
to become settled by the middle or latter end of that 
month. Between every row there should two stakes 
be set up at each end, two feet asunder; these will 
mark the beds and the spaces between them; thus 
there may be 8 beds and 9 spaces or divisions. At 
the time of sowing the beds—(I greatly prefer seed 
to plants)—leave a space on the outside of two of 
the outermost stakes, and strain a garden line exactly 
along the middle of the bed immediately within, and 
next to it; and beginning at one end of the line—but 
a foot within it—make a small ring or circle with the 
finger, an inch deep, and three inches wide; or what 
is better, force a circular piece of iron or wood into 
the ground to the required depth, and drop three 
seeds in the ring so formed, equidistant, and at right 
angles with one another. Form and sow the rings 
about fifteen inches asunder—centre from centre, the 
whole length of the line; then cover the seeds to the 
surface depth with sand, and pat it to a level with 
the flat of a spade; one row or bed will thus be 
sown. Leave the adjoining space of two feet va- 
cant; and proceed to the bed or division next be- 
yond it: sow that, and proceed in the same alternate 
order till the plot be completed; when a space ex- 
terior of the last sown division must be left, and it 
will then be found that whatever be the number of 
divisions sown, that of the unsown spaces will exceed 
it by one. The plan thus laid down is grounded 
upon the practice of the celebrated Bath cultivators; 
and nothing can exceed it for the facility it affords to 
good tillage, and orderly, convenient forcing. If 
the seed be good, the season propitious, warm, and 
moist, germination will rapidly advance ; and when 
the plants appear, they may be secured from vermin 
by sprinkling around and within them a good cover- 
ing of wood ashes, three parts, blended with soot 
and powdered lime, of each one part. If weeds arise 
and threaten to surmount the plants, they must be 
kept under by surface-hoeing to the depth of an inch, 
with the Dutch or thrust-hoe. Perhaps three plants 
will rise from each ring, and these, and indeed all 
that grow, must remain till they begin to interfere 
with each other; then, one only, the strongest, must 
be left, and the others drawn or raised up; so that a 
complete row of single plants, from 1 foot to 15 
inches apart, finally remain. ‘The young supernume- 
raries may be set out in rows, to grow for succes- 
sion, or be thrown away if no more stock be re- 
1B; 
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