22 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This transplanting tends to give them fine bushy roots, makes 

 the plants strong and stocky, and curtails the tap root, and when 

 finally transplanted they are more certain of success, taking root 

 and growing sooner and more strongly. Tolerably good success 

 ma3'- be had without this transplanting, by thinning the plants well 

 in the seed bed, cutting the tap root off about two weeks before 

 transplanting, and choosing the strongest and best plants for 

 setting where to be grown. 



To produce plants for an early crop to mature in June and July, 

 we sow the seed the first week in September, and winter them 

 over in cold frames. The seed is first sown in a well prepared bed 

 in the open ground, as for the late crop ; in the course of four or 

 five weeks the plants are transplanted and set deeply in cold frame 

 beds, two inches apart each way, where they can remain, to be 

 treated as cold frames are commonly managed, till spring ; the 

 cauliflower being more tender than the cabbages, more protection 

 to the beds will be necessary. These beds should be located 

 where they will be sheltered from prevailing cold winds, and be 

 banked around, deeply, with stable and j^ard manure. The cold 

 frames in which cauliflower plants are wintered need considerable 

 attention to keep the plants in the dark the shortest time con- 

 sistent with safety from cold ; to give sunlight when to be had, 

 and also as much fresh air as is safe, taking off the glass and 

 replacing as the weather is soft or cooler, covering when cold and 

 cloud}', and at night. Stir the soil about the plants in the frame 

 whenever practicable, to give the plants strength. All through 

 the winter and early spring the glass should be ofl" as much as 

 safe during the brightest and warmest part of the day to strengthen 

 and harden the plants. About three weeks before corn-planting 

 time begin to leave the glass off nights as well as days. 



Plants may also be grown, with less trouble, b}^ sowing the seed 

 in a hot-bed, or other structure for propagating, in January, and, 

 when the plants have made a growth of two or three inches, 

 transplanting into shallow boxes of soil two to three inches 

 apart, and putting them in a warm place where they will not be 

 forced ; or they can be transplanted into another hot-bed partly 

 spent, until it is safe to plant them in the open ground. If the 

 plants are properly grown and hardened off, they are so hardy 

 that several degrees of frost does not seem to affect them. 



Prejmration for Transplanting. If the weather will permit, 



