238 
stems. If this sort is sown towards the end of April, it will pro- 
duce large compact green heads during the whole of May in 
the succeeding year. Two feet distance is sufficient for the plants. 
14 Srroutinc Brocort. This is a hardy spring sort. If 
sown in April it will produce in the following spring. Two feet 
asunder is sufficient for this kind. 
15 Betvivere Brocori. The heads of this kind are very 
handsome and excellent. The plant is not very hardy. Sow in 
April, and plant finally two feet asunder. 
General observations on the culture of Brocoli. All the sorts 
are raised from seed, and half an ounce is sufficient to sow a bed 
of 40 feet square. Ronalds directs the seed-beds to be prepared 
of rich mould well dug, and if dry watered the evening before 
sowing. ‘The seeds should be thinly sown, and the beds should 
be covered with mats or litter till the plants appear; the cover- 
ing may then be removed, and then watered occasionally as the 
state of the weather requires: the best method is to transplant 
when the plants are about 2 or 3 inches high into other beds 
about 4 inches apart. Being several times refreshed with water, 
if the weather is dry, they will in a fortnight or three weeks be 
sufficiently strong for a second planting. This mode offers some 
advantage in giving time to clear off many crops, such as peas, 
&c. thereby obtaining ground which could not otherwise be con- 
veniently had at the first season of planting out. The four first 
sorts on the list, which Mr. Ronalds considers as congeners, 
should be only once transplanted, as the check their removal 
occasions is apt to produce the head prematurely, which in that 
case will be small, and indifferent in quality. If the season is 
showery, it will be requisite to cover the beds as soon as sown 
with netting, to keep off the birds, also to sprinkle the plants 
with lime-water when they appear, or to strew on them fresh 
slaked lime to destroy the slugs. In this case, when the plants 
are six or eight inches high, they may be planted finally at the 
distances recommended for each sort. Brocoli in general suc- 
ceeds best in fresh loamy soil, where it is supposed they come 
more true to their kind and hardier, but if this situation cannot 
be had, deep digging with plenty of manure, or where the ground 
is exhausted with reiterated cropping, a good quantity of fresh 
loam obtained from a common, dug in, would materially improve 
the Brocoli, and be a lasting use to future crops, are the only re- 
maining alternatives to procure good crops. Deep digging also 
buries the insect which causes all the Brassica tribe to club at 
the roots. Soap ashes dug into the ground is supposed to be a 
good preservative from the club, and if the roots of the plants, 
just previously to planting, are dipped and stirred well about in 
mud of soap ashes with water, its adherence will ina great mea- 
sure preserve them from attack ; perhaps a mixture of stronger 
ingredients, such as soot, sulphur-vivum, tobacco, &c. would be 
still better (Hort. trans. vol. 3.). 
Mr. Wood, a writer in the Cal. Hort. Mem., has paid consi- 
derable attention to the cultivation of Brocoli for forty years. 
He finds that manuring with a compound of sea-weed and horse- 
dung produced the finest and largest heads he had seen during 
a practice of fifty-four years. 
Preserving Brocoli during Winter. Ronalds says, that though 
Brocolis come larger and finer on the spot where they are 
planted, yet it is prudent to take up a part of the later sorts in 
November, disturbing the roots as little as possible, and lay 
them in slopingly, with their heads towards the north, only a 
few inches above the ground, and about eighteen inches asun- 
der. By this means the crown of the plant, lying low, is soon 
covered and protected by the snow which generally falls pre- 
vious to long.and severe frosts. The plant is also rendered 
tougher in fibre, and hardier, by the check received in this last 
removal. Mr. A. Knight having practised laying in his Brocoli 
plants in November, in the usual way, found but small heads 
CRUCIFERZ. LXXXIII. Brassica. 
produced from them in the succeeding spring, till he tried 
trenching or laying them in September, and “so low as that the- 
centre of the stem at the top of each plant was level with the 
surface of the ground.” ‘The plants are watered, roots are 
properly emitted, and the earth drawn round each plant, before 
snow is apprehended. The consequence of this treatment is, 
that the plants are fresh and vigorous in spring, and produce 
large heads. (Hort. Trans. I. p. 305.) Nicol takes up the 
most forward crops of Brocoli in the end of October, and lays 
them on their sides, so as the heads may not touch each other. 
In a dry soil, and open situation, the plants will thus resist the 
severest winter. 
Gathering Brocoli. In gathering Brocoli, five or six inches 
of the stem are retained along with the heads; and in dressing, 
the stalks are peeled before boiling. Some of the kinds pro- 
duce sprouts from the sides of the stems, with small heads; 
these should be gathered when ready, and are very good when 
boiled. 
To save seed. The largest, finest, and best formed heads are 
selected for this purpose, taking particular care that no foliage 
appears on the surface of the heads. These are marked, and 
in April are laid in by the heels, in a compound of cleaning of 
ditches, tree-leaves, and dung. When the head begins to open, 
or expand, the centre is cut out, leaving only four or five of the 
outside shoots to come to seed. Lifting prevents them from 
producing proud-seed, as it is called, or degenerating. The 
above method produces seed the most genuine of all the me- 
thods that have been tried. The Sulphur Brocoli is the most 
difficult to procure seed from. (Nicol. in Cal. Hort. Mem. 2. 
p. 267). Abercrombie says that Brocoli seeds degenerate n 
this country, and that the best seed is obtained from Italy. 
Insects which the Brassica tribe are liable to be attacked by. 
The whole of this tribe are liable to the attacks of the larve 
of the Tipula oleracea, Lin. on their roots, and of the cater- 
pillars of butterflies and moths on their leaves, as well as aphi- 
des, or cabbage-lice, snails, and slugs. There is no remedy for 
the first, excepting that of taking up, cleaning, and transplant- 
ing in fresh soil, in a different part of the garden; and it is m 
general easier to plant afresh from the seed-bed. With respect 
to caterpillars, snails, and slugs, they can only be gathered by 
hand, and the way to do this effectually is to begin, as soon as 
they appear, to look them over daily, early in the morning. 
Poultry, and especially ducks and sea-gulls, are sometimes 0 
use in keeping these and other insects under ; a hen and chick- 
ens will devour caterpillars greedily, but are apt to scratch the 
soil afterwards if not timely removed ; Turkey-fowls are better. 
Nature has furnished a remarkable quantity of eggs in the bodies 
of caterpillars or pupe, which are there hatched ; the larve have 
no feet; they are soft and cylindrical, and feed on the substance 
of the caterpillar, which never turns to a perfect insect ; while 
the larve of the ichneumon spin themselves a silky web, and 
change into a pupa incompleta, and in a few days the fly ap- 
pears. (Lntymologist’s Companion, p. 68.) 
Field Culture of the Varieties of Brassica oleracea. 
The Cabbage tribe, for the common purposes of farming, will 
afford little profit ; but near large towns or sea-ports they will an- 
swer the purpose of the farm-gardener. The varieties common y 
cultivated in fields are the large field-cabbages, called Scotch, 
or Strasburgh, and the drum-head, &c. For the purposes of do- 
mestic economy all the varieties may be cultivated,—Cabbages 
Borecoles, Savoys, Brussels-sprouts, Brocolis, and Kohl-rube 
for the time and manner of cultivating see Garden Culture. 
Any soil that is rich will suit all varieties. The best mode of 
preparing for field-culture is that for Potatoes or Turnips, 0° 
