Jannar7 30, 1868. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTIODLTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



80 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



Month 



30 

 31 

 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 6 



D»y 

 of 



Week. 



Tn 



F 



S 



SCN 



51 



Tn 



W 



JAN. 30— FEB. 5, 1868. 



Meeting of Royal Society. 



Mectintr of Royiil Institution. 



Royal Horticuitnr.Tl Society, Promenade. 



4 SUN-DAV AFTER EPlPHANY. 



Meeting of Entoniologi»;al Society. 

 Meeting of Institute of Civil Engineers. 

 Meeting of Society of Arts anti Geological 

 [Society. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain In 

 last 



41 years. 



Day. 

 4-1.4 

 44.7 

 4H.n 

 44,;! 

 44.;i 

 44.5 

 45.5 



Niaht. 

 82.2 

 30.5 

 31.0 

 31.0 

 BO.y 

 30.4 

 33.3 



Mean. 

 .S8.8 

 37.6 

 87.5 

 87.6 

 87.6 

 37.5 

 89.4 



Days. 



21 



in 



13 

 15 

 20 

 19 

 19 



Sun 

 Rises. 



m. h. 



•46 aJ 7 

 43 7 



Snn 



Sets. 



in. ta. 



44af 4 

 45 4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 



Sets. 



6aflO ! SSatlO 

 31 10 



58 10 

 28 11 

 after. 

 SI 

 48 1 



morn. 

 4 

 15 1 

 25 2 

 86 3 

 ■42 4 



Moon's 

 Age. 



7 

 > 



9 

 10 

 11 

 12 



Clock 



before 



Snn. 



13 S3 



13 42 



IS 51 



13 59 



14 6 

 14 12 

 14 17 



DST 

 01 



Year 



30 

 SI 

 32 

 S3 

 84 

 35 

 36 



From observations taken near London daring tho last Jorty-ono years, the average day temperature of the week is 45.1°; and its night 

 temperature 31.3'. The greatest heat was 57", on the Ist, 1852 ; and 3rd, 1850 ; and the lowest cold 8', on the Slst, 1857. The greatest fall 

 of rain was 0.75 inch. 



BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 



O <jrow this useful winter vegetable snccess- 

 fuUy the seed should bo sown in the first or 

 second weeli in January in pans or boxes, and 

 placed in a cold pit, late Peach house, vinery, 

 or any place where there is sufficient warmth 

 to cause the seeds to vegetate, and where the 

 young plants may have abundance of air at 

 all times without being injured by frost. The 

 seeds should be scattered thinly over the sur- 

 face of the soil in the pans or boxes, and just 

 covered with any light soil. If the seed is sown too thiclcly, 

 and the pans should have too much water at any time 

 during the dull and sunless weather generally prevailing 

 at tliis season, tliere is danger of the seedlings damping- 

 off. The pans should have only just sufficient water to 

 keep the yoimg seedling plants from flagging ; if the soil 

 is tolerably moist when the seed is sown no water will be 

 required before the end of Januaiy or the second week in 

 February. 



About the end of February the young plants should be 

 pricked-out, about -3 inches apart, into other boxes or pans. 

 and placed in a position wliere they will have the benefit 

 of a Httle more wannth till the end of March. During this 

 time they should be kept rather dry, giving them water 

 only when they show signs of flagging. The soil into 

 which they are pricked-out should not be pressed too firmly 

 into the pans or boxes, and should be composed of two- 

 tliirds leaf soil and one-third loam. In this the young 

 plants will root very freely without making very much 

 gi'owth ; the scanty supply of water will also prevent then- 

 gi'owing very rapidly. During tliis time they will be gain- 

 ing strength and maturity, and wOl show the benefit tliey 

 have derived from their early treatment. 



On planting-out in the open ground, about the second 

 week in April, the young plants should be carefully shaken 

 out of the soil they liave been gi'owing in, when it will be 

 found that each plant has a fine mass of roots attached to 

 it. Ha\'ing selected as many plants as will be considered 

 necessary for the purposes of the famil}', they should be 

 carefully planted-out m an old pit or frame, about fi inches 

 apart, in good soil. Here they should have all the au- 

 that can possibly be given them. After they have been 

 planted a week or ten days, about the first week in May 

 tlie point of each plant should be pmched-out, and as soon 

 as the plant begins to push-out side shoots, three or foiu- 

 of the most prominent should be selected to form the futiu-e 

 stems, and all the others should be removed. This is the 

 most important point to which I wish to direct attention, 

 for the adoption of the practice will enable one to grow 

 four times the quantity of sprouts of first-rate quality on 

 one plant that could bo obtained in tho ordinary way of 

 cultivating Brussels Sprouts. The plants may remain in 

 this position till the first week in May, when they may be 

 removed to the open gi-ound. and be permanently planted. 

 Having described the early spring treatment from the 

 sowing of the seed to the period for planting-out in 

 the permanent beds, I will proceed witli the after-treat- 

 ment. It is necessary that the soil should be good and 

 NO. 357.-V0I,. xrv.. New Series. 



deep. Having selected the piece of land in wliich the 

 plants are to be grown, place regularly over it a good layer 

 of manure about 2 inches tluck. This should be worked 

 into the bottom of each trench as the ground is trenched 

 or dug. The gi-ound may be thrown up in little ridges or 

 left in rough spits, but it is important tliat it should be 

 prepared in this way for the crop as early in the autumn 

 or winter as may be convenient. In the first week in May, 

 when the plants are ready for planting-out, the ground 

 may be slightly dug over for tho purpose of levelling it : 

 drills should then be drawn at 4 feet apart, in which the 

 plants may be planted after taking them from their spring 

 quarters with good balls. They should be carefully planted 

 with a trowel, not witli a dibber, o feet apart. The soil 

 must be pressed firmly about the roots, and the operation 

 of planting should be finislied by giving them a good water- 

 ing, and placing a stick to each plant. 



The stick should be pushed into the ground to a proper 

 depth to enable it to support the four stems when suffi- 

 ciently advanced. It shoidd be about 4 feet long ; this 

 will admit of a length of 1 foot being pushed into the 

 ground, leaving •'! feet of it above the surface, to which 

 part tlie four stems may be made secure. Each shoot 

 shoiUd be tied to the stick as soon as it has grown 

 4 or 5 inches long ; this will cause the shoots to grow 

 perfectly straight, and prevent their being split off from 

 the parent stem by high winds ; and as the shoots mature 

 their growth, they should be gone over occasionally, and 

 fresh ties added to keep them in theii- places. 



During the summer months the plants should be co- 

 piously supplied with manure in a liquid state ; the decay- 

 ing leaves should also be removed. This will allow the 

 small sprouts to develope. and wUl also permit the air to 

 circulate freely amongst them, causing them to assume 

 that dark p-een colour which adds so much to their appear- 

 ance and flavour. If Brussels Sprouts are wanted early 

 in the autumn, tlie tops should be broken out of a score or 

 two of the plants, tliis will cause them to mature their side 

 sprouts much earlier than they would otherwise do. 



To have a regular succession of Brussels Sprouts from 

 August to April it will be necessary to make tkree sow- 

 ings — namely, the first in the first or second week in 

 .January ; the second in the first week in February ; and 

 the third in the first week in jMarch. The first two sow- 

 ings should be treated as previously recommended, but the 

 tliird may be made in the open ground, The plants from 

 tlus sowing should not be stopped, as there will not be 

 time for them to matm-e their new stems and to clothe 

 them with young buds before the winter sets in, except in 

 very warm localities. 



Many advantages will be gained by cultivating Brussels 

 Sprouts in tlie way I have described, and the trouble is not 

 so great as at first it may appear. I feel confident that 

 even market growers would find it would pay them to culti- 

 vate then- Brussels Sprouts in this way, for each plant 

 may be made to produce four times the number of sprouts, 

 and these of a much superior qualit}- to what we commonly 

 see. Generally a large number of the plants in every 

 piece of Brussels Sprouts will be found either blown oyer 

 No. 1009.-VOL. XXXIX., Old Series. 



