

THE FORCING OF CAULIFLOWERS. 229 



favor as a winter vegetable. It can be very easily raised 

 and there is no reason why, with a good market, it may 

 not be a paying crop. 



The seed of the first batch should be sown either in 

 a flat or in a bed out of doors, about the first of Septem- 

 ber. The seedlings will be of a suitable size to prick 

 out into other flats in about three weeks and can be set 

 in the beds by the middle of October. The soil and the 

 beds should be about the same as for radishes, except 

 that the cauliflower requires a rather more nitroge- 

 nous soil. 



They should have about the same temperature as 

 lettuce and radishes, and the rules given for the watering 

 and ventilating for those crops will answer for the cauli- 

 flower. The plants should be set about eighteen or 

 twenty inches apart each way, and should be ready to 

 market from the 18th to the 30th of January, according 

 to the care they receive. Plants for a second crop should 

 be sown about the first of November, and after having 

 been pricked out and grown in a flat five or six weeks, 

 they can be re-transplanted to other flats at four inches, 

 or can be placed in four-inch pots to be grown until the 

 first crop is out of the way, which should be by the early 

 part of February. The plants at this time should be 

 large and strong and will quickly make their growth, — 

 perfecting marketable heads early in April. As with all 

 forced crops, the plants should never be checked, but 

 should be so handled that they will make a regular 

 growth from the time the seed is sown until the crop is 

 harvested. If space is available a continuous succession 

 of cauliflowers can be obtained for the table or market, 

 by making a sowing every two weeks. 



The time allowed for the development of the heads 

 does not allow them to reach full size, but when half 

 grown they will bring nearly as much as if left two 

 weeks longer, and it is best to cut them at the size of 



