Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... CULTURE OF SEAKALE General Description Seakale is a perennial in the truest sense of the word, for when once established it is very difficult to exterminate. Every little piece of root will form a plant, and being thus so hardy it in some cases becomes a nuisance in the garden. Reproduction can be effected either by division of the roots or by seeds; though I have always found the former process the more satisfactory, and this method is simple and easy. In digging up a seakale plant to force, if it be properly removed, long white roots or thongs will appear, resembling thongs of leather. If you examine these roots, you will find those from seed more thonglike, and the older the plant from whence these roots spring the more woody are they. Again, if grown in a wet soil of a clayey nature, on cutting them a blackish mark or inky vein will be noticed. In seed plants, if young, this is not found; so for propagation I prefer such to plants raised from cuttings. I will give you my experience of seed raising first. There is no doubt but that plants can be raised in two years from seeds. As with all other crops, we must start with a clean soil free from weeds. If this is to be a permanent site, we should select land where convolvulus, ground ivy, couch, and other persistent weeds are not, for it will be almost impossible to exterminate such when the plants are established. Sow the seed thinly in drills of fine earth, about an inch or more deep. The distance allowed for each plant will vary according to our plans for the future of the bed, but it will be safe to name eighteen inches; for, if the bed be made a permanent one, every other row can be cleared away later, and the plants left double the space SEAKALE apart if wanted to force under pots...
