Broccoli 



first-class vegetables until the first crop of -Cauliflower is ready, and 

 Peas are coming in freely. Generally speaking, smallish heads, neat 

 in shape and pure in colour, are preferred. They 'are the most 

 profitable as a crop and the most acceptable for the table. An open, 

 breezy place should be selected for a plantation of late Broccoli, the 

 land well drained, and not particularly rich with manure. But good 

 land is required, with plenty of light and air to promote a dwarf 

 sturdy growth and late turning in. 



Various plans are adopted for the protection of Broccoli during 

 winter. Much is to be said in favour of leaving them to the risk of 

 all events, for certain it is that finer heads are obtained from un- 

 disturbed plants than by any interference with them, provided they 

 escape the assaults of winter frost. But in such a matter it is wise to 

 be guided by the light of experience. In places where Broccoli do not 

 winter well, heeling over may be adopted. There are several ways 

 of accomplishing the task, the most successful method being managed 

 thus. Open a trench at the north end of a row, and gently push over 

 the plant so that its head may incline to the north, disturbing the 

 roots the least possible. Put a little mould over the stem to settle it, 

 but do not earth it up any more than is needful to render it secure. 

 Push over the next, and the next, and so on, finishing off between 

 them neatly and leaving the plants nearly as they were before, save 

 that they now all look northward, and their sloping stems are a little 

 deeper in the earth than they were in the first instance. This should 

 be done during fine weather in November, and if the plants flag a 

 little they should have one good watering at the roots. In the course 

 of about ten days it will be scarcely perceptible that they have been 

 operated on. They may be lifted and replanted with their heads to 

 the north, but this is apt to check them too much. When it is seen 

 that the heads are forming and severe weather is apprehended, some 

 growers take them up with good balls of earth and plant them in a 

 frame, or even pack them neatly in a cellar, and the heads finish fairly 

 well, but not so well as undisturbed plants. It is impossible, however, 

 to cut good heads in winter without some such protective measures. 

 In many gardens glass is employed for protecting Winter Broccoli, in 

 which case the plantations are so shaped that the frames will be easily 

 adapted to them without any disturbance of the plants whatever. 

 There must be allowed a good space between the beds to be covered, 

 and the plants must be fifteen to eighteen inches apart, with the object 

 of protecting the largest number by means of a given stock of 

 frames. Rough frames answer admirably, and there are several 



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