EXPERIENCE WITH CAULIFLOWER. 109 
in a cool lean-to house, where the temperature often went 
below 40°. The floor of this house was cold and wet, 
and it was soon evident that the plants were suffering. 
They were removed, therefore, into an intermediate tem- 
perature. Growth soon began again, and small heads 
began to form before:the plants had reached the proper 
size. These heads, however, soon split or ‘‘buttoned,”’ 
and none of them were merchantable. The lesson was 
evident. The plants had béen checked, and under the 
sudden stimulus of a new growth the premature heads 
were ruptured. The experiment was repeated the follow- 
ing winter in a small way, the attempt being made to 
keep the plants in a uniform condition of vigor and 
growth throughout their lifetime. This attempt was 
successful, and it led to two larger experiments. In this 
second trial, the plants were grown in 6-inch pots, but 
this was thereafter abandoned as too expensive and 
troublesome. 
The successful crops.— The house in which the two 
first successful crops were grown is a low two-thirds span, 
facing the south, 60 ft. long by 20 ft. wide. It is built 
upon a side hill, and it has three benches, the two lower 
ones being used for the cauliflowers. The lowest bench, 
against the south wall, has a board bottom underneath 7 
or 8 inches of soil, and is supplied with mild bottom heat 
from two 14-inch steam pipes. The main or central bench, 
7 feet wide, is solid: that is, it is a ground bed, and has no 
bottom heat. The soil in this bed is about 8 inches deep, 
and it rests upon a natural subsoil of very hard clay. 
The soil in both beds was placed upon them in the pre- 
ceding fall, and it was made of good garden loam with 
which a very liberal supply of old manure was mixed. 
One load of manure mixed with three or four of the 
earth makes a good soil; and if it is somewhat heavy 
or pasty, sand must be supplied to it to afford perfect 
drainage and prevent it from getting ‘‘sour’’ or hard. 
The lower bed, which had bottom heat, did so poorly 
