CAULIFLOWER GROWING 189 



more rebellious under neglect or deprivation. While it is perfectly 

 simple and easy for a person with any joy and zeal in gardening 

 to grow a grand cauliflower, the lack of these qualities will yield 

 distressing failures. He may busy himself with a fair sort of cab- 

 bages, but his cauliflowers will point gaunt ringers at him instead 

 of nestling down in tight masses of snowy curds, as if to shame him 

 for his ill-treatment of them. For this reason cabbages are seen 

 everywhere and cauliflowers seldom, except in the market gardens 

 or in the fields where grown for distant shipment, which is about 

 half as large of cauliflower as of cabbage. 



The growth of the cauliflower is in the main the same as the 

 cabbage except that a little higher heat and greater protection are 

 needed for the young plants and a little more diligent cultivation 

 and faithful attention to moisture supply for the later growth. The 

 writer's observation is that most cases of failure with cauliflowers 

 are attributable to delay in starting the plants and planting out too 

 late, and to insufficient or intermittent moisture supply. Summer 

 heading of cauliflower is difficult unless the plants are started in the 

 seed beds in the winter and planted out early in the 

 spring, for a spring start from the seed is apt to amount 

 to little. Winter heading is surer if the plants are in the 

 seed beds by June and in the ground, properly irrigated and worked, 

 in August. Besides the error of starting at wrong times, many 

 plantings go wrong toward the end of their course, through lack of 

 work and water on the home stretch. In the milder regions it is 

 possible to start so early that less attention, perhaps, has to be given 

 to watering, but where the local climate requires spring planting 

 the reason for failure is generally to be seen in the hard, dry ground 

 on which the plants strive in vain to answer the grower's expecta- 

 tions. 



Soil. Like the cabbage, the cauliflower likes good, rich soil 

 and plenty of water ; coarse, long manure answers the purpose of a 

 fertilizer very well if the soil is heavy; if applied on the surface, 

 either on light or heavy soil, it keeps the ground loose and the water 

 soaks through, and thus the soil is always moist. 



Situation. The cauliflower is less hardy than the cabbage, and 

 where there is a choice of situations in the garden, it should be given, 

 for winter growing, the one which is warmer and more protected. 

 It also resents heat which a cabbage will endure, and for summer 

 growing will be benefited by partial shade. 



