112 THE CAULIFLOWER. 



give the least amount of good seed. Still, it is not 

 necessarily true that the highest priced seed is 

 always the best and most economical to use. A 

 new variety, until it becomes well established, 

 requires rigid selection, and this so reduces the 

 amount produced that a high price can be obtained 

 for all that is grown. An older variety, on the 

 other hand, which has become so well established, 

 and comes so true that nearly every head is perfect 

 and will furnish good seed, can be suioplied at a 

 cheaper rate and may for a given purpose be equally 

 good. As a rule it may be said that the newest and 

 highest priced seeds are too expensive to use on a 

 large scale, and the cheapest seeds are inferior 

 in quality. One should not judge of the value 

 of a variety wholly by the price at which its 

 seed is sold. Most of the high priced varieties are 

 dwarf kinds, which are becoming more and more 

 popular in this country, but which produce com- 

 paratively little seed. 



Our varieties of cauliflowers have all been devel- 

 oped by means of selection. Desirable features 

 have either been aquired by gradual selection 

 through successive generations in a given locality; 

 or some sudden variation has been preserved and 

 perpetuated. Climate, as already stated, has had 

 much to do in developing certain peculiarities. 

 The varieties of Italy, France, Holland and Ger- 



