The Gardener's New Director. 193 



rhould, as pra6:iren in making Cucumber holes : they 

 muft be watered morning and evening tor eight or ten 

 days, and afterwards every other day, as the feafon re- 

 quires, till they feem in perfect heaUh : there is nothing 

 afterwards to be done, but now and then hilHng them, 

 as you do Collvflowers : in about five or fix weeks, the 

 flower will be fit to cut, which is known by its clofenefs 

 and hardnefs, as well as the extreme beauty of its co- 

 lour, having a purplifh bloom like that on Grapes: they 

 never cut more than about nine or ten inches with the 

 flower, as the ftalk fhoots out frelh fprouts, which are cut 

 from time to time ; thofe defigned for feed are never to be 

 cut,but fuffered to grow till the feed is fit to gather, which 

 ihev know by cropping a bit and fqueezing ithard between 

 the finger and thumb, if the feed fhoots out, it is fit to 

 gather, and muft hang in the fun to harden; if it does 

 not fly from the hufk, but bruife in the fqucezing, it 

 mufl: (land a while longer. 



I was favoured with thefe directions by a gentleman 

 at Rome, where he refided many years : the fame me- 

 thod is pra6tifed in Italy, except the feafon of planting, 

 which with them is in /luguji: but for this climate he 

 fixed on the end of May, or beginning of June, as mod 

 proper. Thefe dire6tions have been followed in France^ 

 and with great fuccefs ; nor have I been lefs attentive to 

 them, notwithftanding the oppofition given me by my 

 gardener, in which I have had all imaginable fuccefs ; 

 my Brocoli being larger, fueeter, tenderer, and in much 

 greater quantity than ever I met with here before, and 

 the flower frequently as large as a fmall Collyflower. 



I fufFered my gardener to follow his own way, and I 

 obferved what he fowed early in the fpring was apt to 

 run in hot weather ; what he fowed in autumn, the froft 

 ftunted in its growth, and the bcft he ever produced were 

 not better than common Sprouts. 



FiNOCHiA fhould be managed after the fame man- 

 ne, only fowed a fortnight later, being extremely apt to 

 run, and great care taken to earth it in the manner you 

 do Celery ; our Eti^lijl? gardeners rarely taking care to 

 draw the earth high enough in blanching. 



O CAB- 



