134 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



clear distinction ; but it is scarcely so with cauliflower, which 

 is rather finer and coarser, good and inferior, and by the in- 

 itiated the terms early and late are used in reference to the 

 period of the expected crop, as summer or fall, rather than to 

 designate different varieties. Disappointments would be still 

 more frequent to the cultivator if the seed for both were not 

 often furnished from the same stock by the seedsman. 



If desired for summer use at the North, the seed should be 

 sown about the middle of September, and the plants, when 

 about three inches high, transplanted into quart garden-pots, 

 three plants in a pot, and placed ia pit for wintering. They 

 should be kept well covered in the severest weather, but when 

 a moderate temperature prevails light and air should be given. 



In the latter half of April the plants may be set out in very 

 rich, strong soil, at the distance of twenty inches by two feet, 

 or two feet each way. Let them be often and deeply hoed, 

 and dig or plow deeply between them at least once before they 

 attain their growth ; use ash compost or liquid manure about 

 them from time to time, and if the season is favorable you may 

 cut fine heads for summer use ; if, however, the season prove 

 hot and dry, the heads will probably be small and of only me- 

 dium quality,, or you may be entirely disappointed of a crop. 



In milder latitudes they will bear the winter with little or 

 no,overing, and may be set out in late fall. 



The fall crop is far more certain, and more easily raised. 



For this, sow the seed in the spring, at the times above di- 

 rected; transplant when two inches high into a second bed, 

 two or three inches apart. In about six or seven weeks from 

 the sowing, set them out at the distance named for the summer 

 crop, treat them as directed for the same, and, unless the seed 

 sown was of inferior stock, you may ordinarily calculate on a 

 full and valuable crop. 



If, on the approach of winter, any part of them have not per- 

 fected their heads, let them be taken up carefully, with plenty 

 of earth to them, and heeled in closely, either under the bench 

 of a green-house or in a warm dirt cellar, and they will con- 

 tinue to head almost as well as in the open ground. 



The proper time for cutting cauliflower is when the head has 



