238 



CRUCIFEILE. LXXXIII. BRASSICA. 



stems. If this sort is sown towards the end of April, it will pro- 

 duce large compact green heads during the whole of May in 

 the succeeding year. Two feet distance is sufficient for the plants. 



14 SPROUTING BROCOLI. This is a hardy spring sort. If 

 sown in April it will produce in the following spring. Two feet 

 asunder is sufficient for this kind. 



15 BELVIDEKE BROCOLI. The heads of this kind are very 

 handsome and excellent. The plant is not very hardy. Sow in 

 April, and plant finally two feet asunder. 



General observations on the culture of Brocoli. All the sorts 

 are raised from seed, and half an ounce is sufficient to sow a bed 

 of 40 feet square. Ronalds directs the seed-beds to be prepared 

 of rich mould well dug, and if dry watered the evening before 

 sowing. The seeds should be thinly sown, and the beds should 

 be covered with mats or litter till the plants appear ; the cover- 

 ing may then be removed, and then watered occasionally as the 

 state of the weather requires : the best method is to transplant 

 when the plants are about 2 or 3 inches high into other beds 

 about 4 inches apart. Being several times refreshed with water, 

 if the weather is dry, they will in a fortnight or three weeks be 

 sufficiently strong for a second planting. This mode offers some 

 advantage in giving time to clear off many crops, such as peas, 

 &c. thereby obtaining ground which could not otherwise be con- 

 veniently had at the first season of planting out. The four first 

 sorts on the list, which Mr. Ronalds considers as congeners, 

 should be only once transplanted, as the check their removal 

 occasions is apt to produce the head prematurely, which in that 

 case will be small, and indifferent in quality. If the season is 

 showery, it will be requisite to cover the beds as soon as sown 

 with netting, to keep off the birds, also to sprinkle the plants 

 with lime-water when they appear, or to strew on them fresh 

 slaked lime to destroy the slugs. In this case, when the plants 

 are six or eight inches high, they may be planted finally at the 

 distances recommended for each sort. Brocoli in general suc- 

 ceeds best in fresh loamy soil, where it is supposed they come 

 more true to their kind and hardier, but if this situation cannot 

 be had, deep digging with plenty of manure, or where the ground 

 is exhausted with reiterated cropping, a good quantity of fresh 

 loam obtained from a common, dug in, would materially improve 

 the Brocoli, and be a lasting use to future crops, are the only re- 

 maining alternatives to procure good crops. Deep digging also 

 buries the insect which causes all the Brassica tribe to club at 

 the roots. Soap ashes dug into the ground is supposed to be a 

 good preservative from the club, and if the roots of the plants, 

 ju9l previously to planting, are dipped and stirred well about in 

 mud of soap ashes with water, its adherence will in a great mea- 

 sure preserve them from attack ; perhaps a mixture of stronger 

 ingredients, such as soot, sulphur-vivum, tobacco, &c. would be 

 still better (Hort. trans, vol. 3.). 



Mr. Wood, a writer in (he Cal. Hort. Mem., has paid consi- 

 derable attention to the cultivation of Brocoli for forty years. 

 He finds that manuring with a compound of sea-weed and horse- 

 dung produced the finest and largest heads he had seen during 

 a practice of fifty-four years. 



Preserving Brocoli during Winter. Ronalds says, that though 

 Brocolis come larger and finer on the spot where they are 

 planted, yet it is prudent to take up a part of the later sorts in 

 November, disturbing the roots as little as possible, and lay 

 them in slopingly, with their heads towards the north, only a 

 few inches above the ground, and about eighteen inches asun- 

 der. By this means the crown of the plant, lying low, is soon 

 covered and protected by the snow which generally falls pre- 

 vious to long and severe frosts. The plant is also rendered 

 tougher in fibre, and hardier, by the check received in this last 

 removal. Mr. A. Knight having practised laying in his Brocoli 

 plants in November, in the usual way, found but small heads 



1 



produced from them in the succeeding spring, till he tried 

 trenching or laying them in September, and " so low as that the 

 centre of the stem at the top of each plant was level with the 

 surface of the ground." The plants are watered, roots are 

 properly emitted, and the earth drawn round each plant, before 

 snow is apprehended. The consequence of this treatment is, 

 that the plants are fresh and vigorous in spring, and produce 

 large heads. (Hort. Trans. I. p. 305.) Nicol takes up the 

 most forward crops of Brocoli in the end of October, and lays 

 them on their sides, so as the heads may not touch each other. 

 In a dry soil, and open situation, the plants will thus resist the 

 severest winter. 



Gathering Brocoli. In gathering Brocoli, five or six inches 

 of the stem are retained along with the heads ; and in dressing, 

 the stalks are peeled before boiling. Some of the kinds pro- 

 duce sprouts from the sides of the stems, with small heads ; 

 these should be gathered when ready, and are very good when 

 boiled. 



To save seed. The largest, finest, and best formed heads are 

 selected for this purpose, taking particular care that no foliage 

 appears on the surface of the heads. These are marked, and 

 in April are laid in by the heels, in a compound of cleaning of 

 ditches, tree-leaves, and dung. When the head begins to open, 

 or expand, the centre is cut out, leaving only four or five of the 

 outside shoots to come to seed. Lifting prevents them from 

 producing proud-seed, as it is called, or degenerating. The 

 above method produces seed the most genuine of all the me- 

 thods that have been tried. The Sulphur Brocoli is the most 

 difficult to procure seed from. (Nicol. in Cal. Hort. Mem. 2. 

 p. 267). Abercrombie says that Brocoli seeds degenerate in 

 this country, and that the best seed is obtained from Italy. 



Insects which the Brassica tribe are liable to be attacked by. 



The whole of this tribe are liable to the attacks of the larvae 

 of the Tipula oleracea, Lin. on their roots, and of the cater- 

 pillars of butterflies and moths on their leaves, as well as aphi- 

 des, or cabbage-lice, snails, and slugs. There is no remedy for 

 the first, excepting that of taking up, cleaning, and transplant- 

 ing in fresh soil, in a different part of the garden ; and it is in 

 general easier to plant afresh from the- seed-bed. With respect 

 to caterpillars, snails, and slugs, they can only be gathered by 

 hand, and the way to do this effectually is to begin, as soon as 

 they appear, to look them over daily, early in the morning. 

 Poultry, and especially ducks and sea-gulls, are sometimes of 

 use in keeping these and other insects under ; a hen and chick- 

 ens will devour caterpillars greedily, but are apt to scratch the 

 soil afterwards if not timely removed ; Turkey-fowls are better. 

 Nature has furnished a remarkable quantity of eggs in the bodies 

 of caterpillars or pupae, which are there hatched ; the larva? have 

 no feet ; they are soft and cylindrical, and feed on the substance 

 of the caterpillar, which never turns to a perfect insect ; while 

 the larvae of the ichneumon spin themselves a silky web, and 

 change into a pupa incompleta, and in a few days the fly ap- 

 pears. (Entymologisl's Companion, p. 68.) 



Field Culture of the Varieties of Brassica oleracea. 

 The Cabbage tribe, for the common purposes of farming, will 

 afford little profit ; but near large towns or sea-ports they will an- 

 swer the purpose of the farm-gardener. The varieties commonly 

 cultivated in fields are the large field -cabbages, called Scotch, 

 or Strasburgh, and the drum-head, &c. For the purposes of do- 

 mestic economy all the varieties may be cultivated, Cabbagea, 

 Borecoles, Savoys, Brussels-sprouts, Brocolis, and Kohl-rube ; 

 for the time and manner of cultivating see Garden Culture. 

 Any soil that is rich will suit all varieties. The best mode of 

 preparing for field-culture is that for Potatoes or Turnips, the 



