753 



CAUCALIS CAULIFLOWER. 



ruspinatc ; sepals spreading 1 , nearly equal, edges un- 

 dulating ; labellum hollow, dilated at the point, 

 edges waved or curled, surrounding, but not adhering 

 to the column ; column wingless, semi-cylindrical, 

 concave in front, point obtuse, and three-toothed ; 

 pollen masses parallel. This is certainly one of the 

 most splendid of all the Orchidca:, the flowers being 

 large and richly coloured. They flower readily when 

 properly treated; which is not by potting them in 

 soil, but among moss in dry cocoa-nut husks, fastened 

 to a dead stump of a tree having the bark on, set 

 upright in the bark-bed. A moist atmosphere and a 

 high temperature are necessary for this, and all the 

 other South American OrchidecE. They are increased 

 by dividing the root. This genus received its name 

 in compliment to the gentleman who introduced, and 

 wns a successful cultivator of it, William Cattley, Esq. 



CAUCALIS (Linnaeus). A genus of annual 

 herb?, natives of Europe, of no beauty, nor are they 

 cultivated. Lintucan class and order Pentandrln 

 Digi/nia; natural order Umbel/iferee. Several of the 

 species are found in England, and are called bur- 

 parsley. 



CAULIFLOWER. A favourite variety of the 

 cabbage family, long cultivated in this and other 

 countries of Europe. As the common cabbage is 

 cultivated for its congregated head of leaves, so is the 

 cauliflower for its large head of flowers. The flowers 

 of almost all the Brassiere are, on their first appear- 

 ance, compactly united together, but those of the 

 cauliflower and broccoli are much more so than any 

 of the others. For this peculiarity of growth they 

 are managed under prescribed rules of practice which 

 experience has laid down. 



It is not probable that the cauliflower was, when 

 first noticed and used as a distinct culinary vegetable, 

 so perfect as to compactness and size of head, as we 

 now find it to be. Selecting the truest of the desired 

 character from each succeeding crop, has been the 

 means (by raising sub-varieties) of gaining the supe- 

 rior sort we now possess. And, indeed, even at this 

 da} 7 , it requires no little share of attention to keep the 

 best sort free from adulteration with other species of 

 cabbage, and to prevent them running back to their 

 original habit. The plants which produce the whitest, 

 closest, and largest heads, arc those which can only 

 be depended on to produce their like; and, when 

 reserved for seed, care must be taken that no inferior 

 or different plant of the same genus be in flower at 

 the same time near them. 



This cauliflower being the most delicate of its tribe, 

 much care is required to preserve young plants 

 through the winter ; but this is absolutely necessary, 

 otherwise the flowers cannot be had so early for 

 table as they are required in the spring. They, there- 

 fore, for the principal crop, require to be sown in 

 the autumn, nursed through winter, and planted out 

 when the spring is so far advanced as not to risk 

 their well-doing. 



The cauliflower is a biennial, that is, it requires 

 pnrts of two years to arrive at full perfection. Sown 

 in the autumn of the first year, it ripens seed in the 

 summer of the second ; and a rule must be observed 

 as to the precise period of committing the seed to the 

 ground ; if sown too early, the flower comes forth 

 prematurely; and if too late in the autumn, the 

 flowers do not come into use soon enough in the 

 following summer. 



To provide against these exigencies, practical men 



have found that the best time for sowing the princi- 

 pal summer crop is any day between the eighteenth 

 and twenty-ffUt of August. It is well to make three 

 small sowings between the first of these dates and the 

 beginning of September, in order to have an extended 

 season of the crop in the following year ; for it is 

 generally found that all the plants, from the same 

 sowing, come in for use together, a circumstance to 

 be avoided if possible. Some practitioners are of 

 opinion, that the latest" sowings in August, especially 

 if not pricked out into nursery beds till November, 

 are hardier, and stand the rigours of the winter better 

 than the earlier sown and transplanted plants. There 

 is some reason in this ; because early pricked-out 

 plants have taken root, and are in active growth 

 when the frost sets in, and therefore more easily hurt ; 

 whereas, plants which have been pricked out into 

 nursery beds in November, are stationary from the 

 check of removal, and consequently less liable to 

 suffer from frost. But whenever sown, it is the uni- 

 versal practice to transplant the seedlings, as soon as 

 they have got three or four leaves, into nursery beds, 

 either on warm sheltered borders, where they may be. 

 occasionally covered by hoops and mats in inclement 

 weather, or into glazed frames, or under hand-glasses. 

 In giving protection against frost, however, care must 

 be taken not to give it unnecessarily ; because the 

 plants become so tender under coverings, that the 

 least accidental exposure afterward kills them out- 

 right. 



Protecting cauliflower plants under bell or hand- 

 glasses, is one of the most common expedients in 

 kitchen gardening, and is executed as follows, viz. : 

 A border, on the end or side of a compartment in the 

 open garden, is prepared by having a good coat of 

 rich dung deeply digged in. Thus prepared, it. is 

 divided into four feet wide beds, with two feet wide 

 alleys between. Along the middle of the bed or 

 beds a rank of hand-glasses is placed, by line, two 

 feet apart, from each other. Within the impressions 

 made by the bottoms of the glasses, four or six of the 

 best and healthiest plants are dibbed or let in with a 

 trowel. Three or four of these plants are intended 

 to perfect their heads on the spot ; the supernume- 

 raries to be transplanted to some other place in the 

 spring. When the planting is finished, a little water 

 may be given to each to settle the earth about their 

 roots, especially if the weather or soil be dry, as 

 sometimes, happens in the month of October, the pro- 

 per season for the performance of this work. The 

 glasses are then put on for the winter, but, on the 

 morning of every fine day, the south fronts of the 

 glasses are raised on a brick-bat to admit fresh air, 

 but shut down close again at nights. 



This is the only protection and attention required 

 by the plants throughout the winter, except perhaps 

 taking the glasses entirely off in the middle of a mild 

 day, stirring up the surface of the earth among the 

 plants, and taking off dead or dying loaves, and 

 replacing the glasses before night. Attention should 

 also be given that no snails or slugs take up their 

 winter quarters within the glasses, because these 

 would assuredly injure the plants one way or other. 

 If any enemy of the kind appear, a dusting of hot 

 lime, or a sprinkling of lime water will kill or drive 

 them away. 



The plants, during March, will be advancing 

 rapidly ; and about the beginning of April will have 

 filled the glasses with their leaves. When this takes 



