1869.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 265 



covering should be removed, and light and air admitted by degrees. 

 Mice and slugs are the enemies that are to be guarded against, for if 

 allowed their own way they soon spoil a lot of plants — the former by 

 eating the hearts out of them, and the latter by eating the stems 

 below the leaves. 



Looking at these Cauliflower plants that have been wintered in 

 frames in cold localities, the next consideration is how to manage 

 them so that they shall succeed those in hand-glasses in a south bor- 

 der. If transplanted into the open borders or quarters in March they 

 receive a considerable check, even when lifted with balls and carefully 

 planted, and are likely to get checked severely by frosts and cutting 

 winds before they get hold of the ground, so that the earliest of them 

 has little chance of being ready by the time the latest under the glasses 

 are cut. To gain the object in view I know of no better plan than 

 that of potting them up out of the frames the first week of February, 

 and establishing them in pots in kindly quarters under glass, for a 

 time at least. In this way they receive a comparatively slight check, 

 and fine strong plants can be turned out with good balls by the end of 

 March. They are also better able to contend with sun and wind, 

 and are much earlier than those transplanted from the frames without 

 being potted. 



Four-inch pots are large enough for the strongest plants, while the 

 smallest may have a size less. The soil should be rich, such as old 

 Melon-bed loam and well-rotted leaf -mould in equal proportions, with 

 a slight sprinkling of fine bone-dust and sand. A single crock in each 

 pot is enough. They should be potted firmly, and room left in the pot 

 to hold plenty of water when they require it. In lifting the plants from 

 the frame, the object should be more to get the roots as entire as pos- 

 sible than to preserve a ball of earth to them. None of them should 

 be discarded on account of their being small if healthy, for the greater 

 the variety in size, the longer and more regular the succession a given 

 number of plants will afford. After being potted and well watered, 

 they should be returned to the pit or frame and kept close for a time 

 till they begin to take with the pots. Then they must be inured to 

 full exposure, but always protected from frost, although in all other 

 respects grown in a hard manner. By the end of March, or, should 

 the weather be cold, the beginning of April, is soon enough to plant 

 them out, unless in more favoured localities. The ground intended 

 for them should be trenched and well manured with thoroughly-rotted 

 dung. Some of the most forward plants should be planted in a border 

 with a south exposure, on a rather light rich soil. Here they will 

 succeed those in the glasses. The rest may be planted in the open 

 quarters, where the earliest of them will follow up those in the early 



