250 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



Broccoli. 



Cape broc- 

 coli. 



Wood, one of the most successful cultivators of brocco- 

 li near Edinburgh, gives an account of his remarkable 

 success with this sort of manure. When drift ware 

 abounds on the shore, he bestows on the quarter next 

 intended for broccoli a very liberal supply, immediate- 

 ly digging it in roughly. The ground is afterwards 

 slightly delved over before planting. From the soil 

 thus treated, very large and fine heads are produced. 

 It may be added, that grubs will not infest the roots, 

 as they are very apt to do when stable manure is used.. 

 The broccoli plants are set in lines, two feet asunder, 

 and a foot and a half apart in the lines. Water is given 

 when thought necessary, according to the state of the 

 weather. They are hoed and earthed up like cauli- 

 flower plants. Nicol recommends, that, in the end of 

 October, the most forward crops, especially of the tall 

 growing kinds, should be raised and laid over on their 

 sides pretty closely together, placing the heads just 

 clear of one another. If this be done in a dry soil and 

 free situation, the plants are seldom injured by the 

 frost of the severest winters. The heads of winter 

 broccoli generally begin to appear early in January, 

 and they continue till April. 



In gathering broccoli, five or six inches of the stem 

 are retained along with the head ; and in dressing, the 

 stalks are peeled before boiling. 



291. The early purple Cape broccoli, already men- 

 tioned as lately introduced into this country, deserves 

 more particular notice. The seed, it was understood, 

 was first brought from the Cape of Good Hope, but the 

 same kind has since been received from Italy. A par- 

 ticular account of the mode of cultivation is given by 

 Mr John Maher, in the first volume of the London 

 Horticultural Transactions, p. 116. Three crops are 

 sown: in April, between the 12th and 18th of the 

 month ; in May, between the 18th and 2ith ; and in Au- 

 gust, between the 19th and 25th ; and by means of these, 

 this kind of broccoli is procured from September till the 

 end of May. The seeds are sown very thin, on a bor- 

 der of light rich earth. In about a month the plants 

 are finally transplanted, at the distance of two feet eve- 

 ry way, in a sandy loam, well enriched with rotten 

 dung. Frequent hoeings are given, and the earth is 

 drawn to the stem as in the case of ordinary broccoli. 

 Mr Maher never pricks the seedlings into a nur- 

 sery bed. He finds, that the head is by that measure 

 rendered less in size, and more apt to run to flower and 

 seed. A part of the second crop is often transplanted 

 into pots (sixteens), and plunged into the open ground, 

 where the head forms. Against December, these pots 

 are removed into a shed, frame, or pit; and in this 

 way fine broccoli is secured in the severest weather of 

 winter ; the head often six or seven inches in diameter. 

 The seed for the third crop is sown in a frame ; and 

 about the third week in October the plants are ready 

 for transplanting. A few good plants for affording 

 seed are selected at this time, and planted in a remote 

 part of the garden, covering them with hand-glasses 

 during winter, in the manner of cauliflower. 



292. When broccoli seeds are to be saved, plants 

 with the largest and finest heads are selected, observing 

 that no small foliage appear on the surface of the head, 

 Mr Wood, already mentioned, makes it a rule to take up 

 such plants in April, and lay them, in a slanting direc- 

 tion, in a rich compost, (cleanings of old ditches, tree 

 leaves, and rotten dung,) giving, at the same time, a 

 plentiful watering, if the weather be dry. The raising, 

 he thinks, prevents them from producing proud seed, or 

 from degenerating. When the heads begin to open or 



push, he cuts out the centre, leaving only four or five K.iiche 

 of the outside flower-stalks to come to seed. The cen- _ Garden. ^ 

 tre, it may be remarked, would probably produce the '""V""' 

 stronger seeds ; but the object seems to be, to check 

 the tendency to luxuriancy and consequent sporting in 

 the plant. 



Kohl-rabbi. 



293. The Kohl-rabbi or turnip-rooted cabbage (Bras- Kohl rabbi. 

 sica. oleracea, var. Najwbrassica, not a variety ofl?. rapa, 

 or turnip, as supposed in Salisbury's Botanist's Com- 

 panion), has large broad leaves, and the- stem protube- 

 rant like a turnip at the base : there are two varieties, 

 one swelling above ground, the other in it. Both are 

 sometimes used in a young state for the table ; but they 

 are not much cultivated in this country. Kohl-rabbi is 

 very hardy, and might probably be advantageously 

 cultivated in the colder parts of the island ; for it is 

 found to be a very profitable crop in Sweden and other 

 northern countries. 



Leguminous Plants. 



Peas. 



294. The Pea (Pisum sativum, Lin. Diadelphia De- Pea, 

 candria ; Pajntionacece or Legiiminosa:) is an annual 

 climbing plant, so well known as not to need any de- 

 scription. The legumes or pods are commonly pro- 

 duced in pairs ; the seeds contained in these are the part 



of the plant used, and to which, in common discourse, 

 the name peas is always given. In some varieties, call- 

 ed Sugar-peas, the inner tough film of the pods is want- 

 ing, the pods of such, when young, being boiled with 

 the peas within them, and eaten in the manner of 

 kidney-beans. Concerning the native country of the 

 pea, there is no certainty ; it is guessed to be the 

 south of Europe. It has been cultivated in Britain 

 from an early period ; but some of the best varieties, 

 such as the sugar-pea above mentioned, were introdu- 

 ced only about the middle of the 1 7th century. 



There are very many varieties, differing in size, time 

 of coming in, colour of flower and fruit, and also in 

 taste : but the principal distinction is as to their being 

 early or late ; supposing the sorts to be sown on the 

 same day, the former are ready a fortnight at least be- 

 fore the latter. 



295. The early peas are called hotspurs and /tastings. 

 Of these there are different subvarieties, especially the 

 Charlton, Heading, Golden, Double dwarf, and Early 

 frame pea ; the last being so called from its being often 

 forced in hot beds, especially for the London market. 

 These being comparatively of dwarfish growth, do not 

 require sticking ; and it is a common remark, that peas 

 supported on sticks yield more, but that those recum- 

 bent on the ground ripen soonest. Some of these kinds 

 are generally sown towards the end of October, in front 

 of a south fruit-wall, and at right angles to it, or in- 

 clining a point to the east, in order to catch the morn- 

 ing sun. With some slight protection of branches of 

 evergreens or old peas-haulm, the crop survives the 

 winter, and produces young peas by the end of May. 

 Many gardeners prefer sowing in longitudinal rows 

 near the wall, the crop thus ripening more equally. 

 In January and February more peas, of the early sorts, 

 are sown, to follow in succession those sown before 

 winter. Some gardeners are in the practice of raising 



