II2 CAULIFLOWER. 



gave the earliest and evidently the best results. The 

 plants had been somewhat checked late in their history 

 by very dark weather and possibly by some inattention 

 in management, and many of the heads began to "but- 

 ton," or to break into irregular portions, with a tendency 

 to go to seed. The house was needed for other experi- 

 ments, and on January 20 the plants were all removed. 

 At this time nearly three-fourths of the crop had matured 

 sufficiently to give marketable heads, although many of 

 the heads were small. Winter cauliflowers, in common 

 with all forced crops, should be harvested when small, 

 for products of medium or even small size sell for nearly 

 or quite as much as large ones in winter, and the cost of 

 raising them is much less. A head 4 inches across is 

 large enough for January sales, and many of the heads 

 which we sold were considerably smaller than this. These 

 heads sold readily at our door for 20 cents apiece. 



January 25, a second crop of cauliflowers was set in 

 the beds, comprising Early Snowball and Dwarf Erfurt. 

 Seeds for this crop were sown in flats October 21. On 

 November 5 the plants were transplanted to other flats, 

 and on December 16 shifted to 3-inch pots, where they 

 remained until set in the bed. On April 8, the plants 

 had reached the size shown in the photograph in Fig. 36 

 (page no). At this time they completely covered the 

 ground, and choked out lettuce which had been placed 

 between them. About the 2oth of March, heads were 

 found to be forming in the Early Snowball. In the 

 former experiment, Erfurt gave the first heads. A week 

 later than this, Snowball had heads 3 to 4 inches in 

 diameter, while Erfurt showed none. The first heads 

 were sold on the 2gth of March, about five and one-third 

 months from the time of sowing. It will be observed 

 that the time between sowing and harvest is greater in 

 the second crop than in the first. This is because the 

 plants were wholly grown in the dark and short days 

 of midwinter. It should be added, also, that the climate 



