82 



PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER xr. THE CABBAGE TKIBE — CULTURE OF THE CAULIFLOWER AND 



THE BROCCOLI. 



There are few things in the vegetable 

 way to equal a fine cauliflower. To 

 see its snowy poll shining with melted 

 butter, and garnished with a bright 

 green collar of leaves, is in itself enough 

 to give one an appetite. The nicely 

 browned lamb and savoury ducks smell 

 all tlie sweeter when their steamy 

 odours mingle with the vegetable fra- 

 grance, and, as long as the dinner lasts, 

 one's palate may revel in the choicest 

 of creamy luxuries. To grow fine 

 cauliflowers is worthy the ambition of 

 every amateur gardener ; expert pro- 

 fessional hands take a pride in them, 

 for, to do the thing well, one must aim 

 a little higher than the ordinary rou- 

 tine of cabbage-culture, although this 

 is but a cabbage, though the king of 

 the group. 



It is not the least use to attempt 

 cauliflower and broccoli growing, un- 

 less you have a really good soil and 

 some means of generously manuring 

 it. They like to bite half-rotted dung, 

 and make free root in fat loam, with 

 plenty of moisture during summer ; 

 hence liquid manure should be freely 

 used as soon as a plantation has been 

 made, and continued regularly till the 

 flower begins to form, when it may be 

 discontinued, and abundance of plain 

 water be given instead. In frosty 

 weather, of course, the drier they are 

 kept the better. 



The first step towards obtaining a 

 crop of cauliflower or broccoli is to in- 

 sure good seed. This is said ad- 

 visedly, for the seeds of these plants 

 are very liable to deterioration, and it is 

 really difficult to get the best varieties 

 quite true. Cheap, or rather low- 

 priced, seeds have been condemned in 

 a previous page ; but we must here 

 repeat the condemnation, for cauli- 

 flower-seed cannot be raised under 

 eighteenpence or two shillings an 

 ounce by the grower, and hence no 

 one can expect it under two shillings 

 or half-a-crown. A shilling packet, 

 however, containing half, or even a 

 quarter, of an ounce, is quite enough 

 for any ordinary family for one season, 



and if you have any left after sowing, 

 give it away at once, or raise it all, and 

 give avi'ay the surplus plants, for either 

 will be precious to a poor neighbour, 

 and you gain nothing by keeping 

 it. Have it fresh, and from a first- 

 rate house, and then you have a 

 chance of some day cutting plenty of 

 fine heads. There are always new 

 sorts coming into the market ; but the 

 old ones, if quite true, are as good as 

 ever, and should be chiefly trusted 

 to, though there are exceptions, as in 

 the case of May's Hardy Broccoli and 

 Mitchell's Hardy Cauliflower, both of 

 which are impi'ovements on old sorts, 

 and valuable for their hardiness. The 

 leading sorts of cauliflower are Early 

 London, which is the quickest grow- 

 ing of all ; Large Asiatic, a very va- 

 luablekind for general purposes ; Large 

 Late and Walcheren, which, indeed, 

 may be called either a broccoli or 

 cauliflower, which you please, for it 

 is between the two. 



For the main crop, a sowing of any 

 of the sorts may be made on or about 

 the 20th of August, the Walcheren 

 being the most generally useful, and 

 Mitchell's Hardy next so. If the 

 weather is dry, water the bed before 

 sowing, and give the seedlings a little 

 extra care as to weeding, etc. As soon 

 as they are large enough to handle, 

 prick out the young plants on a piece 

 of rich ground that has been well dug, 

 and trodden firm ; keep them mode- 

 rately moist, for drought is ruin to the 

 cauliflower. By the middle of Oc- 

 tober they must be prepared for win- 

 tering. The tender sorts, such as 

 London Early, must be wintered under 

 glass ; but Walcheren will stand a 

 moderate frost, and may be wintered 

 in four-foot beds, over which some 

 hoops can be placed, so as to allow the 

 protection of a mat or some litter. 

 Those to be kept under glass shoixld 

 either be planted in rich earth in 

 frames, or in a bed, for hand-lights, 

 and as soon as frost comes they must 

 be protected from it, but not to the 

 extent of coddling them ; nay, grow 



