234 
that Cauliflower may now fairly be claimed as peculiarly an 
English product. Till the time of the French Revolution quan- 
tities of English cauliflower were regularly sent to Holland and 
the Low Countries, and even France depended on us for cauli- 
flower seed. Even now, English seed is preferred to any other. 
For the early supply of the London market, very great quan- 
tities of Cauliflower are fostered under hand-glasses during’ 
winter and the first part of spring; and to behold some acres 
overspread with such glasses, gives a stranger a favourable idea 
of the richness and luxury of the capital. (Neill.) 
The following are the names of the varieties most in culti- 
vation :— 
1 Early, for the first early crops. 
2 Later or Large, for principal early and main crops. 
3 Red Cauliflower, having the stalks or heads of reddish- 
purple colour, esteemed more hardy than the others, and good 
for an early crop. 
Very little difference in quality has been discovered between 
these three varieties. Their distinctions are too trifling to merit 
the attention of practical horticulturists. Like the rest of the 
tribe they are apt to sport into degenerate varieties. ‘‘ An 
action for damages was brought in Westminster Hall, against 
a poor but unfortunate gardener for selling cauliflower seed, 
which only produced long-leaved cabbages.” ‘This circumstance 
has been particularly noticed by Linnzus. 
Propagation and Soil. The Cauliflower is raised from seed, 
of which half an ounce is sufficient for aseed-bed four feet and a 
half wide by ten in length, or a bed of 40 square feet. The 
soil for the seed-bed may be light, but for final transplanting it 
can hardly be too rich, the Cauliflower, like the vine, being re- 
puted “a rough feeder.” Cleanings of streets, stables, cess-pools, 
&c. ought therefore to be liberally supplied during the growth 
of the plants, when very large heads are desired. 
Times of soning. The early and main superior crop, brought 
to fruit by the longest nursery attendance; the late summer 
succession crop, raised by the shortest course, and the Michael- 
mas crop, obtained at the least expense, are sown respectively 
at three different periods. The principal sowing is made about 
the end of the third week in August, or about the middle of the 
month, to stand over the winter under frames, hand-glasses, or 
half sheltered in warm borders, for the early and main superior 
crops next summer. A secondary sowing in February or 
March, for succession and late inferior crops, but in order to 
bring the plants up early and to forward them twelve days or a 
fortnight in their growth, it will be well to sow them in a mo- 
derate hot-bed. Make the bed about twenty inches or two feet 
thick of dung, on which put a frame, then lay four or five 
inches in depth of rich earth over the bed. Sow the seed on 
the surface, cover it a quarter of an inch thick of like rich 
earth, and then set the glass on. As soon as the plants appear, 
let them have air every day by tilting the glass a consider- 
able height, and in mild weather the lights may be taken 
quite off in the day-time, for if kept too close it would cause 
them to grow up weak. . But where there is not the convenience 
of a frame, cover the bed at nights and in bad weather with 
Dutch mats over hoops or long sticks, sprinkle them with water 
occasionally if the weather be dry. Those sown in March re- 
quire the same treatment as the February sowings. Cauliflower 
for a successional crop may be sown any time in the month of 
May ona sheltered border, about the end of this month a second 
sowing may be made for the last crop of the season, on a free 
open spot of light earth ; these last will come into use the fol- 
lowing autumn or winter. 
Mr. W. Ball finds that if cauliflower-seed is not sown till the 
last week in August, and that if the seedlings are not transplanted 
till the middle or near the end of November, before the hard 
CRUCIFERZ. 
LXXXIII. Brassica. 
weather sets in, no sort of covering is necessary, nor any other 
protection than that afforded by a wall having a south aspect ; 
in such a border, and without any covering, young cauliflower- 
plants have uniformly stood well for many successive winters, 
and have always. proved better and sounder plants for spring 
planting than such as have had additional shelter. The seed- 
lings protected with glass-frames generally grow too gross in 
the stems, which become partly blackened, and the plants being 
thus unhealthy are not fit for planting out. Late raised seed- 
lings which spend the winter in the open border, uniformly 
become the largest and finest table cauliflowers during the 
summer, though they certainly do not come in quite so early, 
Cauliflower plants, it is probable, are often killed with too much 
attention. Seedlings raised in autumn seem to be very tenacious 
of life. (Caled. hort. mem. 3. p. 192.) 
A method of producing Cauliflower pretty early and with 
great certainty is this; the plants are set in small pots in the 
winter season and kept in any convenient part of the floor of a 
vinery or other glazed house. In the beginning of March they 
are taken out of the pots with the ball of earth attached, and 
planted in the open ground. -If they be here protected against 
severe frosts with bell-glass covers, they come into head in the 
course of April, if the weather prove favorable. (Neill.) The 
following method of obtaining a crop of early cauliflower is re- 
commended by an anonymous correspondent in Loudon’s-Gar- 
dener’s Magazine. Froma seed-bed which has been sown two 
or three days after rather than before the customary period, 
select a score or two of healthy plants; pot them singly in the 
smallest sized garden-pots in rich loamy compost, water and 
plunge them in a cold frame, shading for a short time until they 
have taken root. Afterwards give them air daily, drawing on 
the lights at night and defending them from severe frost with 
mats, water frequently with tepid manured water, and keep clear 
from decayed leaves and weeds. Examine the state of the roots 
from time to time, and as they become in the least degree matted, 
immediately shift in forty-eight sized pots with the before-men- 
tioned compost, and replace them carefully in the same frame 
and attending to them as before. When the roots have nearly 
filled these last pots, shift into thirty-twos, and in due time they 
will ultimately require twenty-fours, or if they have grown ra- 
pidly even eighteens. After being firmly established in these, 
they may be removed into a-vinery, peach, or other forcing-house, 
there to remain till the end of March or beginning of April, 
when they may be turned out into the open air between the 
asparagus-beds or any other warm or sheltered spot. They 
will require to be put in very deep and protected by hand-glasses; 
or at least by boughs of trees, that they may not suffer from the 
sudden transition of weather or inclement skies. It is hardly 
necessary to add that the whole success of this method of culture 
depends entirely on the plants receiving no check in any stage 0 
their growth, either from want of timely repotting, water, alit, 
of sufficient protection from frost; while in the house if not 
supplied with water in pans they are very liable to button, an 
thereby wholly defeat the end in view. 
Crop to stand the winter. For the early and general crops 
next summer, make considerable sowings from the middle till 
near the end of August, to stand the winter, some being finally 
planted out the same year in warm borders in October or No- 
vember under hand-glasses, and the others pricked out into 
frames and warm borders for planting out finally in the spring 
into the open ground to succeed the hand-glass heads or for the 
general summer-crop. Sow ina bed of rich light mellow earth. 
After sowing give occasional light waterings in dry weather, an 
shade in hot sunny days till the plants come up, when these 
have leaves an inch or an inch and half broad in September, 
prick them into intermediate beds three or four inches apart, 
