VEGETABLES 31 



complete succession can be had the whole year, 

 excepting perhaps if there is a continuance of frost 

 during the winter, especially in January, when it 

 would be difficult to obtain supplies. 



The earliest cauliflowers are obtained by sowing 

 seed out of doors at the end of August, placing 

 them into small pots and wintering them in a cold 

 frame, and then planting them out on a sheltered 

 border about the middle of March. 



In the middle of February another crop should 

 be sown in gentle heat, pricking them out in boxes 

 of light soil in frames, and plant out the second 

 week in April, and in the middle of April a third 

 sowing should be made, and then there will be good 

 heads in August and September, and the latter 

 will continue the supply if dug up and laid in soil 

 in pits or cold frames. 



Two feet asunder should be allowed between 

 the plants when planting out. Of course where 

 space is limited, and there is not room for succes- 

 sions, the sowings must be less frequent. 



The soil should be well watered at sowing 

 time, and when the plants are pricked out, dry 

 weather should be selected, and the time late 

 in the afternoon. Frost is a great destroyer 

 of cauliflowers, and it is well in November to 

 pull up the plants and tie the leaves over their 

 heads and bury them in sand, laying them in alter- 

 nate layers with the earth in a dry situation. Some 

 gardeners, after pulling them up and tying the 

 leaves over their heads, merely hang them in a shed 

 or cellar, which keeps them good for some time. 



Spring sowings are liable to the inroads of 

 White Fly, which cluster on them and eat their 

 centres, and cause what is called ' blindness.' As a 



