442 VILLA GARDENING part V 



essential to all things, especially when the chief production for 

 which it is grown is the flower or fruit ; and though the check of 

 laying down may, in the case of weakly plants, cause the hearts 

 to be smaller, it is certain that these same weakly plants with 

 soft tissues will perish if left upstanding during severe w-eather. 

 I believe most people who grow their Broccoli well have no reason 

 to complain of the size of the hearts obtained from heeled-in 

 plants. 



Saving Seeds. — In a general way, unless we have a very 

 superior kind which cannot be obtained true from a seedsman, it 

 is hardly advisable to save seeds. There is no difliculty about it ; 

 but in order to keep the kind true we must make sure that no 

 intercrossing takes place with any other member of the Brassica 

 family. Sometimes, when anything very choice has to be kept 

 true, the patch of seed-bearing plants is covered with hexagon or 

 some closely-woven netting to keep out the bees, or sulphiu: is 

 scattered over the flowers, or something else done to make them 

 distasteful to the bees. When the seed pods are showing signs of 

 ripening, they should be cut and laid on a sheet of canvas in an 

 open shed or some airy building, to complete the ripening. The 

 seed may then be thrashed out and put away in a dry place. 



Varieties. — The list I give below is arranged according to the 

 season of turning in, and will follow in succession in the order 

 given : — Veitch's Self-protecting Autumn, Snow's Winter White, 

 Brimstone or Portsmouth, Frogmore Protecting, Leamington, 

 Carter's Champion, Sutton's Late Queen, and Cattell's Eclipse. 

 The purple sprouting-Broccoli is a very nice vegetable, but there is 

 a prejudice against the colour in most establishments. 



Brussels Sprout. — This is one of the hardiest and best of 

 the green winter vegetables. In the severe winter of 1861 the 

 Brussels Sprout was among the few living things left in the garden 

 when the winter passed away, and this reliableness in cold seasons 

 is a very valuable quality. It is important that the seeds should 

 be obtained from a good source, and that the strain should be well 

 selected. It was thought years ago that imported seeds were 

 best, but where proper care is used, home-grown kinds are equally 

 good. Those who have been disappointed with their strains of 

 Brussels Sprouts — and I imagine, from the complaints which have 

 reached me, that there are not a few— should try the Aigbiu-gh 

 Sprouts. This strain was selected and grown near Liverpool, and 

 was distributed by a firm in that city several years ago imder the 

 above name. Make tw-o sowings — the first early in March and 

 the second about six weeks later. If an autumn supply of Sprouts 

 is desired, sow a few seeds in a box under glass in the latter end 



