SOIL FOR CAUUFLOWER. 



197 



wards at full length, the blade will lie quite 

 flat on the floor with the shank on the upper 

 side. Now file or grind the blade always on 

 the upper side, and you have a tool with 

 which you can hoe all around every plant 

 and cut runners without stooping- or jar, and 

 do it as fast as two men with common hoes, 

 even if your muscles are those of a lady. 

 Such a hoe indeed may be used to clean the 

 wide spaces also, if you have no horse ; but 

 in this case the blade should be longer, so as 

 to cut a wider strip. A foot wide is not too 

 large for a strong man in loose soil, but it 

 works much easier if the cutting edge is not 

 straight, but comes to a point in the middle 

 and falls away at each side like a half-flatten- 

 ed-out letter " V." But beware of having 

 two shanks attached to the blade like the old 

 fashioned Dutch hoe, as they prevent the 

 weeds from passing through in case you 

 should be so unfortunate as to get behind 

 with the work. But don't get behind if you 

 can possibly help it. Your quarter acre 

 patch can be hoed from beginning to end in 

 a single day when the weeds are sprouting, 

 more easily than it could in a whole week if 

 they get established. 



Varieties. — Stick to standard sorts for the 

 crop, is the safe rule. Experiment with 



novelties at one side in a small way, for that 

 is how we get all our best varieties. Better 

 not break a row with two varieties. Select 

 your land, count your rows, measure their 

 length, decide on how many rows for each 

 variety, then order the plants. 



For setting out eleven hundred plants on 

 a quarter of an acre, I recommend to those 

 just starting the following varieties in about 

 these proportions : 500 Clyde, 300 Williams, 

 200 Excelrior, 100 Michel's Early. If the 

 land is very light, and good Crescents can 

 be obtained cheap, by all means get them 

 instead of Clyde, but Clyde will sell far the 

 best if you can raise them. If the land is 

 low and mucky, William Belt may do better 

 than Williams. If the berries must travel 

 far or stay long in the box b'efore using, 

 leave out Michel's Early and add another 

 hundred Excelsior, and in this case, if your 

 land is rather clayey and quite rich, it might 

 be well to grow good Wilsons instead of 

 Clyde, because though smaller and less 

 beautiful, the Wilson excels in firmness. 



General descriptions of varieties, new and 

 old, I must postpone to a later article, 

 hoping that some who would be glad to 

 grow this beautiful fruit may find these plain 

 directions of some utility. 



SOIL FOR CAULIFLOWER. 



A deep, moist, clay soil is the best for 

 cauliflowers, although good crops can be 

 grown on any good garden soil. I cover 

 the ground two or three inches deep with 

 stable manure, and plow it in. Then har- 

 row and furrow two and one-half feet apart. 

 If I have well-rotted manure, I scatter it in 

 the furrow and mix it with the soil with 

 the cultivator ; or, if the manure is not at 

 hand, I set the plants and in a few days ap- 

 ply around them a little commercial fertilizer 

 that is rich in nitrogen. Vegetables of 

 which the leaves or stocks are the edible 

 parts need plenty of nitrogen in an available 



form. The plants are transplanted at differ- 

 ent times from May until June. Cauliflower 

 plants from the hotbed should not be set too 

 early, unless they are well hardened, for 

 they are more easily injured by frosts than 

 cabbages. I do the most of the cultivation 

 with the wheel hoe and horse cultivator. 



To insure success in a season, one must 

 have some means of irrigation. I have now 

 irrigating works in my garden, so that I 

 may be prepared for drouths when they 

 come. The plants should not stop growing 

 at any time, hence the importance of irriga- 

 ting them during a drouth. — Vicks Magazine. 



