264 



CAULIFLOWER 



CEANOTHUS 



lings pricked out into a coldframe and grown to good 

 transplanting size, and also well hardened off by expo- 

 sure, by the time that the soil can be brought into good 

 working order in early spring. With properly hardened 

 plants, late spring frosts are not much to be feared. 

 Liberal applications of good commercial fertilizers, say 

 up to a ton per acre, and made either before or after the 



389. Cauliflower, trimmed for market. 



plants are set, are often of material help ; and an 

 ounce or two of nitrate of soda scattered around each 

 plant soon after setting seldom fails to show marked 

 or even remarkable results. Salt, lime, kainit, or muri- 

 ate of potash frequently tend to aid the plants in mak- 

 ing increased growth. No application, however, can be 

 more necessary or more useful than that of cultivator 

 and hoe. The soil at all times should be kept loose and 

 mellow. 



The best demand for Cauliflower is usually during 

 the pickling season, in September and October. Plants 

 can be started from seed and transplanted to the field 

 at the same time that we start and set late cabbage 

 plants, or a little later. In a general way, the crop is 

 handled similarly to the early crop. It is not always an 

 easy task, however, to get the plantation started during 

 the hot and dry weather of July. A favorite method 

 of raising late Cauliflower is to sow a few seeds right 

 in the hill where the plants are wanted to grow. Put 

 the soil in perfect tilth previously, then mark out rows 

 3 feet apart, drop the little pinches of seed about 2 or 

 2K feet apart in these shallow marks, and lightly cover 

 with the foot, firming well by stepping on each hill. 

 Later on the plants are thinned to one in the hill. The 

 soil must be kept stirred frequently, unless and this is 

 a much better plan, and one which we always try to 

 practice the soil is kept well covered with a mulch of 

 fresh manure, thick enough to keep down all weed 

 growth. In dry weather, water may be poured upon 

 this layer of manure, and will furnish both food and 

 drink for the plants. 



Of the enemies of the crop, none is more formidable 

 than the cabbage root-maggot. This seems to have a 

 special liking for the Cauliflower. The protective 

 measures which are used for early cabbages are all the 

 more necessary for early Cauliflower. Among such 

 measures, that of enveloping each plant with a tight- 

 fitting collar of tarred felt, and the other of injecting 

 about a teaspoonful of bisulfide of carbon into the soil 

 under the roots of each plant, are probably the best and 

 most surely effective. Plant lice are another serious 

 pest of this crop. Effective remedies are dusting with 

 fine tobacco dust, or spraying with strong tobacco tea or 

 kerosene emulsion. At times we have had fair success 

 by dashing hot soap-suds upon the plants. 



VARIETIES. There are no typical or very marked 

 differences between any of our most popular varieties. 

 Most of them are selected strains of the Early or Earli- 

 est Dwarf Erfurt. Among tnese are Alabaster, Best 

 Early, Gilt Edge, Ideal, Lackawanna, La Crosse Fa- 



vorite, Long Island Beauty, Sea Foam, Snowball, Snow- 

 storm, and others. All these may be planted for early 

 as well as the late crop. A large form of the Early Er- 

 furt (and a little later) seems to be slightly better 

 adapted to growing in warm weather. Early Paris and 

 Half-early Paris are varieties well suited to summer 

 conditions. Autumn Giant or Giant Naples is a rather 

 late sort, which gives good satisfaction in some of our 

 coast states. 



The hot summers of the United States are not favor- 

 able for the production of Cauliflower seed, so that, 

 until quite recently, almost every pound of seed used 

 here was imported from Europe. Now, however, a con- 

 siderable portion of it is being grown on the Pacific 

 coast (Puget sound), and seems superior to the im- 

 ported in plumpness and vitality. We have always se- 

 cured especially strong plants from this American- 

 grown seed. For seed-growing purposes, sow seed dur- 

 ing July, transplant, and winter the partially-developed 

 heads over in coldframe or cellar, to be set in open 

 ground again in early spring, and otherwise to be 

 handled similarly to early cabbage when grown for seed. 



T. GREINER. 



CAVAN is Acacia Cavenia. 



CEANOTHUS (ancient Greek name). NEW JERSEY 

 TEA. fthamnacece. Shrubs or rarely small trees, some- 

 times spiny: Ivs. alternate, sometimes opposite, serrate 

 1 or entire, and usually 3-nerved ac the base : fls. perfect, 

 5-merous, white, blue or purplish, small, but in showy, 

 often panicled clusters : fr. a3-celled drupe, dry at length 

 and separating into 3 stones. Thirty-six species in N. 

 America, chiefly Pacific coast region. Ornamental, free- 

 flowering shrubs, some especially valuable for their late 

 flowering period. Many of them are only hardy in the 

 warmer temperate regions, but C. Americanus, C.ovatus, 

 and C. Fendleri are hardy north, while the numerous hy- 

 brids of C. Americanus are only half hardy, and even if 

 protected they are killed to the ground in the north, but 

 the young shoots will usually flower the same season. 

 The safest way, however, to have good, free-flowering 

 plants of these beautiful hybrids will be, in the north, to 

 dig them up in fall, store them away in a frost-proof pit 

 or cellar, and to plant them out again in spring. Pruning 

 of the late flowering species will be of advantage; about 

 one-hal f of last year's growth may be taken away. They 

 grow in almost any soil , but best in a light and well drained 

 one, and most of the Californian species prefer a sunny 

 position. Prop, by seeds sown in spring and by cuttings 

 of mature wood in autumn, inserted in a coldframe or 

 greenhouse ; softwood cuttings also grow readily if 

 taken in early spring from forced plants. Sometimes 

 increased by layers, and the varieties and hybrids by 

 grafting on roots of C. Americanus under glass in early 

 spring ; the cions must be fresh and with leaves, taken 

 from plants kept in the greenhouse during the winter. 



A. Lvs. alternate. 

 B. Margins of Ivs. serrate or crenate. 



c. Fls. white. 

 D. Foliage deciduous. 



Americanus, Linn. Fig. 390. Low, e*ect shrub, to 3 ft. ; 

 Ivs. ovate, usually acute, finely and irregularly serrate, 

 bright green and dull above, paler and pubescent or 

 nearly glabrous beneath, l%-3 in. long: fls. in terminal 

 and axillary panicles on slender peduncles, forming 

 large, corymbose panicles. July-Sept. From Canada to 

 S. Carolina and Texas. B.M. 1479. Common in dry 

 woods and making a profusion of bloom, which, bow- 

 ever, is short-lived. Many hybrids have been raised 

 from this species in Eu. (see C. hybridus). Var. inter- 

 medius, Trel. ( C. intermedius, Pursh) , has smaller, ovate 

 or ovate-lanceolate Ivs. and the fls. in small, very slen- 

 der, peduncled. short racemes or panicles. Tennessee to 

 S. Carolina. 



ovatus,Desf. (C. ovalis, Bigel.). Low shrub: Ivs. ellip- 

 tic to elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, crenulate-ser- 

 rate, nearly glabrous, glossy above, 1-2 in. long: inflores- 

 cence like the former, but usually smaller. New England 

 to Colorado and Alabama. 



