200 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



CAULIFLOWERS. 



Among the unsolved problems which 

 still puzzle the minds of the intelligent 

 American market gardeners, stands 

 prominently the one how to succeed 

 every year in raising maximum crops 

 of well-developed Cauliflowers. The 

 practical and trained gardener gives 

 himself no trouble of mind about grow- 

 ing paying crops of early Cabbages, 

 Lettuce, Beets, or Onions, with the 

 present well-established practices now 

 in common use. But with Cauliflowers 

 the matter is different. They are ca- 

 pricious, becoming very responsive to 

 good treatment one year, while the 

 next year the crop, gi-own with the 

 same care, results in failure. Very 

 often, not more than fifty per cent, of 

 the number planted will make large, 

 compact heads. This uncertainty is not 

 in consequence of any neglect or over- 

 sight in preparing the ground, nor in 

 the methods of cultivation, for I have 

 known dozens of instances of failure 

 where the ground was rich and the cul- 

 ture thorough, from planting-time to 

 the close of the growing season. This 

 serious and expensive obstacle has been 

 partially overcome, of late years, by the 

 introduction of some newer varieties, 

 which are surer to head than the older 

 kinds under the same treatment. 



In growing Cabbages, one may get a 

 fair crop with light manuring and in- 

 diflferent cultivation. But it is a waste 

 of time and money to risk this plan 

 with Cauliflowers, no matter whether 

 the old or newer varieties are planted. 

 To start right, the soil must be deep, 

 mellow, and rich. This will be the 

 first step toward insuring success in 

 raising a crop of full-sized Cauliflowers. 



For the fall crop, the seed is sown, 

 in the latitude of New York, from the 

 first to the fifteenth of May, in a seed- 

 bed in the open ground. The rows 

 are usually a foot ai^)artj and the seed 



sown thickly and covered lightly. 

 When the young plants come through 

 the surface they are very frequently 

 attacked by the '' black fly," and, un- 

 less these are checked, they will destroy 

 every plant. My plan is, and has 

 been for years, to soak some tobacco 

 stems in water, and add to this some 

 soft-soap and urine. With this mix- 

 ture, diluted with water, the plants 

 are syringed early in the morning, and 

 then dusted with air-slacked lime. One 

 or two applications of this mixture, in 

 the way described, never fail to save 

 the plants. It is simple, and not ex- 

 pensive. 



In former years, the varieties which 

 were generally grown included the 

 Half-Early Paris, Early Paris, Early 

 London, and Walcheren. Of late years, 

 the Erfurt Early Dwarf, Early Snow- 

 ball, and the Algiers, have taken the 

 place of those named first, and, on my 

 own farm, and wherever I have seen 

 them growing, I have become thorough- 

 ly satisfied that they are more reliable 

 for a crop. While they attain an equal 

 size, they are fully up to the standard 

 in quality. In a lot of 3,000 plants of 

 the Algiers planted on my farm last 

 year, over eighty-five per cent, grew to 

 full size, and made large, firm, com- 

 pact heads, many of them measuring 

 eighteen inches in diameter. 



As mentioned before, to grow Cauli- 

 flowers to full size, the soil must be 

 rich and mellow. We usually plant 

 them on ground after early Potatoes. 

 The ground receives a liberal dressing 

 of manure in the spring, at the time of 

 planting the Potatoes. The Potatoes 

 are dug and marketed early in July, 

 after which the ground is again man- 

 ured, ploughed, and harrowed. The 

 plants ai-e then set out in rows two 

 and a half feet apart, and two feet 

 apart in the rows. They are planted 

 with the ordinary dibble, in precisely 



