608 BRASSICACEOUS ESCULENTS, OR TEE CABBAGE TRIBE. 



used in some gardens by the thousand for filling flower-beds or forming 

 ribbon borders in winter. 



The cauliflower (B. oleracea Botrytis cauliflora, Dec. ; Chou-fleur, 

 Fr.) is the most delicate production of the cabbage tribe, both with 

 reference to the table and to its culture. The head of embryo flowers 

 is the part used, and it ought to be compact, round, not broken at the 

 edges, convex on the upper surface, and succulent throughout. There 

 are several so-called varieties, such as the Early London Market and 

 Frogmore Forcing, two good early sorts ; and the Asiatic and Stadt- 

 holder, two fine late kinds ; while the Walcheren is one of the very 

 best for sowing at any time from February to October. It is one of 

 the sweetest, whitest, hardiest cauliflowers at all seasons. In books 

 an early and a late variety are mentioned, but in the seed-shops and 

 gardens they are the same, the earliness or lateness depending on the 

 time of sowing. As it is desirable to have cauliflower as many months 

 in the year as possible, three sowings are made at different times 

 viz., between the 18th and 24th of August, for plants to stand through 

 the winter and produce the first crop next May and June ; in the end 

 of February or beginning of March, on a moderate hotbed for trans- 

 planting in April, to produce the second crop in July and August ; 

 and in the beginning of April for transplanting in June to produce a 

 crop from September till the first frosts ; sow again in May, June, and 

 July, and plant out in sheltered borders to pass through and come in 

 during mild winters, affording, if needed, protection where they stand, 

 or removing the plants into a shed or cellar. 



The First Crop. When the plants have leaves one and a-half inches 

 broad, prick them out at three inches or four inches apart, either in 

 the open garden, for transplanting in October, or under a wall, or in 

 some other warm, sheltered situation, to remain through the winter 

 and be transplanted in spring. In most parts of Britain, cauliflower 

 requires the protection of glass through the winter, and hence the first 

 crop is almost always planted in patches of four or five plants, placed 

 so as to be covered by a hand-glass or bell-glass or Kendle's 

 Plant Protector. The glass remains over the plants throughout 

 the winter, air being admitted every fine day, either by tilting up 

 the glass with a brick or other prop, by taking it off altogether, or, 

 if the cover of the glass forms a separate piece from the sides, taking 

 it off, raising it, or changing its position (fig. 76, in p. 107), accord- 

 ing to circumstances. The patches for being covered by hand-glasses 

 are put out in rows, about three and a-half feet or four feet apart, 

 and i,bout three feet patch from patch in the row ; each patch being 

 of the size of the bottom of the hand-glass, or about eighteen inches 

 square. Put three or four plants under each glass, to allow for 

 deaths during the winter, and for transplanting all, except two or 

 three, into the open ground in the following April. In the last week 

 of April or the first of May, the glasses may be removed, and put over 

 the transplanted plants till they have taken root, and afterwards used 

 for ci cumbers, gourds, or other purposes. The soil all round the 

 patches should now be stirred, and, if not already very rich, manure 



