248 



HORTICULTURE. 



Colewort. 



Kitchen In the neighbourhood of all considerable towns, 

 ^Garden, market gardeners and others raise white cabbage and 

 Coleworte. 8avo y plants for sale at very easy rates : this proves a 

 great conveniency to those who have only small gar- 

 dens, and who perhaps require only 200 or 300 cab- 

 bage plants. 



Open Kale. 



Open Kale. Colewort, Kale, and Borecole, (Brasska oleracea, 

 vars. ) are general terms for greens that do not cabbage 

 or form heads, but remain loose and open. The com- 

 mon colewort is plain ; the others are generally curled 

 or crumpled. 



281 Common coletvorts, (or Dorsetshire kale), being 

 intended chiefly for winter and spring use, are com- 

 monly sown in July, and planted out in August. They 

 are set pretty close together, perhaps not more than 

 eight or ten inches apart every way. They withstand 

 completely the usual frosts of our winters. But young 

 plants of the common cabbages, particularly of the large 

 sugar loaf variety, are now generally used as coleworts, 

 and sold in the markets, under that name, from De- 

 cember to April. So completely, indeed, have these 

 cabbage coleworts supplanted the true kind, which is 

 more hardy, but at the same time coarser, that one of 

 the most popular modern books of gardening (Aber- 

 crombie's Practical Gardener) describes only the for- 

 mer sort under the title of coleworts. 



282. The principal kinds of kale are German greens, 

 Scots kale, Buda, Red curled, and Milan. 



Of the German Greens, a tall growing light coloured 

 kind is preferred, as producing a large quantity of 

 small tufts or loose heads of delicate leaves on the 

 stalk in the spring months, when coleworts are getting 

 scarce. German greens are sown in May, and planted 

 out in June, at eighteen or twenty inches asunder 

 every way. Some are also sown in June, and planted 

 out in August, to be ready for use late in the following 

 spring. 



The seed of the Scols kale, (Siberian borecole, or 

 choux pancalier), is sown in the beginning of July ; 

 and in the course of August the young plants are set 

 out in rows a foot and a half wide, and ten inches dis- 

 tant in the rows. This green bears the severest cold 

 without injury, and indeed is not reckoned good for 

 use till it have endured some sharp frosts. 



The Milan kale cultivated in this country has a thick 

 stem, the leaves of a dark green colour, and much 

 curled or fimbriated. Milan greens are greatly prized 

 in France, and different varieties are there cultivated. 

 The Anjou kale grows to a large size; as does likewise 

 a sort called Cesarcan kale. Neither of these is so 

 tender as the other kinds; but the produce being great, 

 they might probably be found useful in the feeding of 

 cows. 



A very tall variety of open kale is described by the 

 late Mr Delaunay, in the last edition of " Le Bon Jar- 

 dinier" published by himself. It is called Choux pal- 

 mier. It frequently rises to the height of six feet, with 

 a straight bare stem, the leaves displaying themselves 

 only at top, and thus producing the appearance of a 

 little palm tree. The leaves are much puckered, and 

 so mucli rolled back at the edges, that they appear 

 narrow, while at the same time they hang in a curved 

 manner ; thus aiding the illusion. This variety is evi- 

 dently to be considered merely as a curiosity. It was 

 first raised in Italy, and is not very hardy. Another 

 tall sort, sometimes rising nearly to the same height, 



is described by the same author under the name of 



Capousta, or Russian kale. The leaves are of a fine Kitchen 

 purple colour, much cut and fringed. This variety is 

 represented as extremely hardy, resisting the utmost 

 severity of a Russian winter. 



283. The Borecoks, properly so called, are of two Borecole, 

 kinds, the tall purple and the dwarf purple. But all 

 the curled and cut-leaved kale or colewort plants, are 

 commonly called Borecoles. There is a variegated sort 

 which is very ornamental when growing, but not so 

 good for the table as those of more ordinary appearance. 



All kinds of kale seeds are sown in the beginning of 

 April ; the young plants are generally pricked into a 

 nursery bed for a few weeks, to enable them to gain 

 strength ; and they are finally transplanted in June or 

 July in rows three feet asunder, and two feet apart in 

 the rows, giving water if the weather be dry. A few 

 are generally not planted out till September, that they 

 may afford a supply late in the following spring. The 

 only other attention requisite, is the drawing of earth 

 to their stems before winter, in order to support them 

 in times of snow or storm. 



Brussels Sprouts. 



281'. The variety called Brussels sprouts may be Brussek 

 classed with the kale plants. The leaves come out in tprouts. 

 small crowns or sprouts all along the stem, and are very 

 delicate when boiled. The culture is nearly the same 

 as that of coleworts in general. The seed is sown in 

 March or April, and the seedlings are planted out in 

 June, preferring showery weather, or watering care- 

 fully at root. They grow upright and pyramidal, and 

 may therefore be placed nearer to each other than more 

 spreading kinds. They are earthed up in October, are 

 ready for use by midwinter, and continue good till March 

 or April. Brussels sprouts are much used in London 

 during the spring months ; but they seldom appear in 

 the Edinburgh market, nor is the plant so much cul- 

 tivated in Scotland as it deserves. 



Cauliflower. 



285. Cauliflower and broccoli, (Brassica oleracea, var. cauliflower. 

 lotrytis], are curious varieties of the cabbage; the 

 flower-buds forming a close firm cluster or head, for 



the sake of which alone the plants are cultivated. These 

 heads or flowers being boiled, wrapped generally in a 

 clean linen cloth, are served up as a most delicate ve- 

 getable dish. Cauliflower is a particular favourite in 

 this country. " Of all the flowers in the garden," Dr 

 Johnson used to say, " I like the cauliflower." Its 

 culture, however, had been little attended to till about 

 the close of the 17th century ; since that time it has 

 been greatly improved, insomuch that cauliflower may 

 now fairly be claimed as peculiarly an English product. 

 Till the time of the French revolution, quantities of 

 English cauliflower were regularly sent to Holland; 

 and the Low Countries and even France, depended on 

 us for cauliflower seed. Even now, English seed is 

 preferred to any other. 



The two varieties called the early and the later cau- 

 liflower, are scarcely different. The first is the kind 

 generally produced under hand-glasses, and the difference 

 consists merely in the seed having been saved from the 

 most forward plants. A variety having the stalks of 

 the head of a reddish or purple colour has lately been 

 introduced, under the name of Red Cauliflower ; and it 

 is reputed more hardy than the other sorts. 



286. The seed for the early crop is sown about the 



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