THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



85 



possession only. One sowing of this 

 is not sufficient. Make two, or even 

 three, on the Ist and 20th of xipril, and 

 about the 15th of June ; and, if the 

 weather is mild at the fall of tlie year, 

 you will have fine heads from the end 

 of August till long after Christmas, 

 and even till March, if the last 

 gathering is taken up and preserved 

 as directed for cauliflowers. There 

 are three other sorts of white that I 

 should recommend for general use, 

 although there are hundreds to select 

 from in catalogues. Knight's Pro- 

 tecting is a famous sort when true. 

 If sown about the first week in April, 

 they "will form heads early in Feb- 

 ruary, or by the middle of March if 

 the season is severe, and as their leaves 

 cup over and inclose the head, severe 

 frosts aflect the foliage only. The 

 name Frotectlng implies, to an unini- 

 tiated person, the idea of their re- 

 quiring frames or hand-glasses ; but 

 if they were called Self-protectiiu/, 

 their true character would be indi- 

 cated. 



The Walcheren and Somers' Parti- 

 cular Late White are the only sorts 

 that need be added to those named 

 above, and these are invaluable. A 

 clever gardener, with true seed of 

 Walcheren, could manage to cut heads 

 every day in the j^ear ; but it is very 

 easy to have it from the middle of 

 August to the end of January. Two 

 sowings should be made, one at the 

 end of April and another in the middle 

 of May, and even a third may be made 

 in June, to have slow culture in deep 

 loam, not so abundantly manured as 

 the two preceding. Somers' Particular 

 Late White is chiefly valuable for suc- 

 ceeding the Walcherens, and indeed all 

 other sox'ts that are gone by the be- 

 ginning of May. Its true character 

 is, that if sown in April and May, it 

 makes very little progress all the 

 season, but should have good culture 

 notwithstanding. Even in the follow- 

 ing March, when everything makes a 

 sudden start, it stands still as if un- 

 moved by the influences of spring, 

 until, knowing what is wanted of it, 

 about the end of April it makes a 

 sudden bound, the centre gets full of 

 green leaves, and at last a fine head ap- 

 pears ; and during the first three weeks 



of Maj^ it is in perfection, and just fills 

 up the blank between the latest spring 

 bi'occoli, and the first lot of cauli- 

 flowers that have been kept under 

 glasses. 



Now, from the above rather long 

 list, the reader may gather that in the 

 second week of April, and again at the 

 beginning of June, sowings should be 

 made of Purple Cape, Purple Sprouting 

 and Dwarf Purple, Grange's White, 

 Green Cape, White Protecting, and 

 Somers' Particular Late. At the end 

 of April and early in May, sowings 

 should be made of Walcheren White, 

 and each sowing should be kept sepa- 

 rate, and with a tally to the drill, on 

 which the name and date of sowing 

 should be marked. The plants should 

 be pricked out in showery weather as 

 soon as they are two or three inches 

 high, and planted out finally five or 

 six weeks afterwards. Those that are 

 to stand all the winter, to be fifteen 

 inches apart every way, so that they 

 may protect each other ; a ie^i: of the 

 strongest may be put at twenty inches, 

 to come in sooner, and should have 

 the warmest position. During summer 

 they should be two feet and a-half 

 apart, to give theni a good chance of 

 producing fine heads ; for there is no 

 advantage gained in crowding any- 

 thing too close, especially at a time 

 when growth is vigorous. 



To protect the winter standing 

 crops, an application of salt to the 

 ground is very beneficial ; but in ex- 

 posed situations it is necessary, in 

 November, to heel them over by 

 making a trench along the north side 

 of each row, and laying the plants 

 down in it with their heads to the 

 north, so that the centre of the stem 

 at the top is just level with the sur- 

 face of the ground, the root being dis- 

 turbed as little as possible. Then cover 

 over with mould, and water, and in a 

 few days they will look as well as if 

 not at all disturbed. This process 

 checks their growth, and renders them 

 more hardy, and, by turning the head 

 to the north, less injury is done by the 

 early sun shining on the frozen leaves. 

 If snow occurs, it should be heaped 

 over them as a protection. 



Tliese two chapters on the varieties 

 of the cabbage tribe may be suitably 



