80 VEGECULTURE 



intelligence is exercised in management. These usually produce 

 young plants ready to be put into permanent quarters just 

 about the time when ground becomes vacant here and there by 

 reason of lifting early crops ; and a row or two of such plants 

 on these vacant spots give that continuity of cropping which is 

 so desirable and profitable on ground that is kept in good con- 

 ditionat any rate, where limited space obtains. A light or 

 medium crop therefore such as first-early Potatoes and other 

 early-maturing vegetables and salads should precede the 

 Broccoli, and a thorough digging and manuring given when 

 these are cleared and before planting of the Broccoli is done. 

 Next season, when the matured Broccoli heads have been 

 gathered, light crops to mature in autumn and early winter may 

 be put on the same ground, after another digging and light 

 manuring, which procedure will enable the soil, after these 

 light crops have carried, to obtain a restful recuperation ail 

 through the following winter, with, if desirable, further trenching, 

 ridging, and manuring, thus getting the ground ready for the 

 carrying of spring-sown main-crops. In this way the plot 

 devoted to the long-standing Broccoli may be managed so as 

 not to lose what would practically amount to one year's crop- 

 ping out of two ; for it will be seen that the time taken by the 

 Broccoli to develop maturity comprises at least two sowing 

 seasons of main-crop subjects i.e., no main-crop seeds can be 

 sown in the spring preceding the planting of Broccoli in May or 

 June ; the ground is still in occupation of the Broccoli when 

 next spring's sowing-time arrives ; and the ground must there- 

 after lie vacant until the advent of the third spring. This, I 

 believe, prevents and prohibits the utilization of slow-growing 

 Broccoli in many a garden that could well produce this splendid 

 and " easy " vegetable ; and I have tried to show how the 

 difficulty may advantageously and profitably be overcome by 

 the adoption of a judicious system of catch-crops. 



There are other varieties which demand the usual " growing " 

 season spring to autumn only, and present no difficulty 

 beyond good culture ; but, speaking from experience and 

 personal preference, the long-standing Broccoli beats its more 

 amenable brethren in quality. 



The divisions of Broccoli comprise (i) those varieties which 

 mature during the months of September to December ; the 

 seeds of these (such as Walcheren, Veitch's Self -protect ing] are 

 sown in the previous March and April. (2) The varieties which 

 continue the supply by maturing from January up to the end of 



