THE CAULIFLOWER. 163 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE CAULIFLOWER (Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis). 



Choufleur, French; Blumenkohl, German; Blcemkool, Dutch; Cavoli 

 fiori, Italian ; and Berza florida, Spanish. 



The Cauliflower is the most curious, most delicate, and 

 most valuable member of the genus Brassica. The part 

 used, called the "curd," consists of the undeveloped 

 flower buds, with their stems, etc., forming, when not 

 too much expanded, a firm, white, compact head. 



PROFITS PER ACRE. 



Of the various crops grown by the truck-farmer, this, 

 when all the peculiar conditions for its successful culture 

 are present, can be made the most profitable. Peter 

 Henderson, in his valuable "Gardening for Profit," as- 

 sures us that his average proceeds from an acre, through 

 several years, had been fifteen hundred dollars, and, that 

 in one very favorable season, it reached nearly three 

 thousand dollars (ten thousand to twelve thousand plants 

 to the acre). Two years ago, the New York " Sun" re- 

 ported as exceptionally high, the net sales of two barrels 

 of cauliflower, in prime condition, from Cutchogue, L. 

 I., at nineteen dollars each. Some of my own crop of 

 last year, April 4th, 1882, brought, in the New York 

 market, per bushel crate, containing an average of twenty- 

 two heads of prime quality, but not very large, eight dol- 

 lars and fifty cents gross, or seven dollars and sixty cents 

 net. That portion of the crop shipped in crates to New 

 York, averaged, for the first quality and "culls," five 

 dollars and sixty-five cents gross. The first, shipped 



