VEGETABLES — CAULIFLOWER. 115 



CAULIFLOWER.— (Brassica oleracea. Var.) 

 As we remarked in the chapter on Broccoli, Cauliflower 

 is mostly grown as a spring or summer crop, and as all 

 such are more profitable, and consequently of more interest 

 to the grower than crops maturing in fall, we will give its 

 culture more at length. 



Any soil that will grow early Cabbages, will grow Caul- 

 iflower, as their requirements are almost similar ; but as 

 the product is more valuable, extra manuring and prepara- 

 tion of the soil will be well re-paid. In situations where 

 irrigation could be practised, it would be of great benefit 

 in dry weather. We have occasionally found, when our beds 

 were convenient to water, that even watering by hand has 

 been of advantage. But few or no other crops of our gar- 

 dens will re-pay that labor. The seeds of Cauliflower, 

 (that we wish to be ready for market in June), are sown in 

 the fall previous, between the 10th and 20th of September. 

 In the course of four or five weeks the plants are trans- 

 planted into frames, in the manner described in the chapter 

 headed " Uses and Management of Cold Frames ; " but as 

 they are rather more tender than Cabbage or Lettuce 

 plants, we find it necessary to have the glass protected by 

 straw-mats at night during winter. In cases where it is 

 not convenient or practicable to have the plants thus win- 

 tered over, they can be had nearly or quite as well by sow- 

 ing the seed in the hot-bed, or vegetable forcing house, in 

 January or February, and transplanting the plants at 2 or 

 3 inches apart in boxes or in the soil of another hot-bed, 

 until such time as they are safe to be planted in the open 

 ground, which, with us, is usually from 15th of March to 

 10th of April. If properly hardened off, they are rarely 



