Fobraary 17, 1876. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDKNER. 



123 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



CAULIFLOWERS AND BROCCOLI.— No. 1. 



EWILDEEING to many must be tlie array 

 of names which would seem to be needed 

 to satisfy tlie requirements and fancies of 

 growers of these vegetables. The lists fur- 

 nish names as numerous as are the weeks 

 of the year. If the " sorts " would fall into 

 profit naturally during each of the weeks 

 they would be of great value, for sweet white 

 heads are ever in demand. 

 I have had to supply Cauliflowers (in- 

 cluding Broccoli) " all the year round " without any forcing 

 appliances, and for seven years I have not been without 

 a dish when it was wanted. To effect this I have relied 

 on three sorts of Cauliflowers and four of Broccoli. Cauli- 

 flowers : Dwarf Mammoth (Improved Early Erfurt), 

 Walcheren, and Veitoh's Autumn Giant. Broccolis : 

 Snow's Winter White, Adam's Early White, Knight's 

 Protecting, and Cattell's Eclipse. 



By sowing Cattell's Eclipse in June, and growing on a 

 north border (or growing anywhere and laying the plants 

 in a north border in November), heads have been pro- 

 duced until the middle of the following .June. By sowing 

 Dwarf Mammoth Cauliflower in August anl protecting 

 the plants on a south border, they have produced heads 

 in June before the Broccolis on the opposite side of the 

 garden have been beheaded. The Cauliflowers have 

 united with the Broccolis in early summer — a point which 

 should always be aimed at. 



The Cauliflowers I have said are ready in June ; they 

 have continued until the middle of January ; by that time 

 Snow's Winter White Broccoli has always been ready for 

 cutting. The BroccoU has again met the Cauliflower in 

 winter, which is another point which we should always 

 endeavour to accomplish. 



Those two main points attained the rest is not difficult, 

 except the summer is unusually hot and dry, when it is 

 no easy matter to provide a late summer and autumn 

 supply. That has occasionally been my greatest difBculty. 

 I never could have succeeded without that heat-defying 

 sort Veitch's Autumn Giant, which is one of the most 

 valuable introductions of recent years. 



Having mentioned the primary points to attain, I will 

 now state how they have been attained. The first and 

 last crops of Cauliflowers are especially important. Seed 

 for the first crop has been sown in August, and the plants 

 when large enough were planted 9 inches apart on a south 

 border. As winter approached boards were afiixed on 

 their edges at the back and front of the border, and 

 spare lights laid across and further covered as needed. 

 In the spring every alternate row was removed and 

 evei-y alternate plant in the row remaining, leaving the 

 plants at 18 inches apart. These were encouraged by 

 a dressing of nitrate of soda or guano — preferring the 

 former — and were thoroughly watered, and the ground 

 heavily surface-dressed with manure. That always brought 

 out the heads iu June. But to make sure two sowings 

 wore always made in September, one about the HHh and 



No. 777.— Vol. XXS., New Seeies. 



the other about the 20th, and the south-border planta- 

 tion was always a large one — much larger, indeed, than 

 required if every plant could be depended on ; but they 

 cannot, and the more uncertain the crop the greater must 

 be the margin for emergencies. 



That is where many fail ; they do not provide for 

 emergencies and the fickleness of seasons. " Plant more 

 than you want" is my kitchen-garden motto, and espe- 

 cially where it can be done without robbing the ground. 

 In the autumn ground is vacant, and it is easy to pull 

 up surplus Cauliflower plants in spriag in time for plant- 

 ing Potatoes, and nothing has been lost but half-a-day's 

 work of dibbing-in the plants. That practice has always 

 made sure of the first crop, and now for the last. 



Good sowings of Dsvarf Mammoth and Walcheren were 

 made about the 20th and 30th of June — two sowings 

 again, mind. When the plants were ready for planting 

 the south border was clear ; the early Potatoes had been 

 taken up and the Pea haulm cleared off. The ground not 

 being wanted, why not fill it with Cauliflowers ? It has 

 been filled. Some, iu spite of every attention, will " but- 

 ton," but when once the autumn raias fall the plants 

 grow like magic, and will just be in time to commence 

 forming small heads in November — heads, however, to 

 be killed if not protected. Here the advantage of a large 

 plantation is again felt. Select the most promising plants, 

 dig them up and lay them in closely in cold spare frames, 

 water them and further protect from frost as needed. 

 These plants wUl supply excellent small heads for two 

 months. After the frames are filled, or, if there are none, 

 lay the plants in a convenient place and cover them with 

 leaves — autumn leaves. I have cut Cauliflowers in Janu- 

 ary from under a foot of leaves as fine as those from the 

 frames — pure white heads 2 to 3 inches in diameter— just 

 the sort for a gentleman's tabic. The great point in these 

 two crops is to " plant more than you want," and if you 

 have plenty of Cauliflowers when your neighbours have 

 none, no one will find fault with your having occupied 

 vacant ground in such a wholesale manner. 



The first and last crop of Cauliflowers being disposed 

 of, I now tm'n to the first and last crops of Broccoli — the 

 crops between these requiring no speciiil care. The first 

 thing to do is to procure Snow's Winter White Broccoli 

 true. There are many spurious stocks. Sow the seed in 

 March thinly, so that the plants will grow sturdily, and 

 transplant when large enough in an open airy place. It 

 is essential that the plants have ample room to develope 

 themselves, and they should not bo closer together than 

 2.V by 3 feet. A short woody, not a long sappy, growth is 

 the main point to secure, and the sooner and better this is 

 done the earlier will be the produce. 



It is a singular fact, and one which can only be arrived 

 at by experience, that this valuable Broccoli will produce 

 heads earlier when the plants are grown in a perfectly 

 exposed place, such as an unwalled garden, than they 

 will if grown on the warm south border of a walled 

 garden. I have repeatedly had plantations on both sites, 

 and invariably in favour of those which had been exposed. 

 These latter perfected a more woody growth than the 



No. HiO.— Vol. LV., Old Sebies. 



