THE CABBAGE FAMILY 79 



be sheltered from the effects of heavy rains, strong winds, frost, 

 and a scorching sun. Frequent waterings especially manurial 

 -are essential to good produce ; twice a week, at the least, 

 in dry weather. During showery weather, on the other hand, 

 a frequent sprinkling of artificial manure kainit, for example 

 in small quantities, may be placed upon the soil around the 

 plants and hoed in. 



Cauliflower seeds, sown in August preferably in a frame, 

 or in boxes in the glasshouse will produce very large heads for 

 cutting early next season. The resultant seedlings must be 

 pricked out as soon as possible into another frame, where they 

 will remain all the winter, to be well protected from frost. It 

 must be borne in mind that all weaklings will surely succumb ; 

 therefore, keep the young plants in their baby stage quite close 

 to the glass, and encourage them to grow sturdily and strongly. 

 During the ensuing month of April the Cauliflowers are planted 

 out in a well-sheltered situation, quite two feet apart, in a rich, 

 well-dug soil. It will not be long ere satisfactory results in the 

 shape of excellent heads will be forthcoming. 



The oldest and best known varieties in the earliest section 

 are the Early London, Early Erfurt, but as nearly every seeds- 

 man has listed a speciality of his own, the gardener must be 

 left to judge whose are the best by trial. The second early 

 sorts include the well-known Walcheren, which may be sown 

 several times during the year for successive crops ; while the 

 best one of those that mature very much later, and may require 

 protection, is Veitch's Autumn Giant, a universally popular .and 

 widely-grown Cauliflower, from which most of the advertised 

 late sorts have been derived. 



BROCCOLI. The divisions into which Broccoli are usually 

 formed are more pronounced in all features of growth than the 

 Cauliflower groups. The latter indicate little more than degrees 

 of maturity, whereas amongst Broccoli there are very distinct 

 and unalterable traits which make each section almost a separate 

 species ; at all events, an independent variety. For example, 

 there is a class of Broccoli of which seed sown in the May or June 

 of one year produces plants that require nearly a full year's 

 culture before any attempt at flower-forming is made, coming 

 into maturity during the May or June of the following year. 

 There is nothing alarming, however, in the apparent waste of 

 time and space which have to be devoted to the tedious 

 growth of the slowly-developing varieties : quite the contrary, if 



