CAULIFLOWER 189 



in each direction. Before placing them in their permanent beds, 

 trim away half the area of the large leaves. Set them about 

 1 8 inches apart in the row, and if they are to be cultivated with 

 horse power, with a space of from 2^- to 3 feet between the rows. 

 Young plants should be kept growing without check from the time 

 they appear aboveground until they are transplanted to the field, 

 after which they should be forced rapidly by means of thorough 

 fertilization and continuous cultivation. 



Cauliflower as a field crop. For the early field crop, seed should 

 be sown in the greenhouse or hotbed about March 15, in the lati- 

 tude of New York City, and at a correspondingly earlier date in 

 more southern localities. In some sections the crop is grown in 

 spent hotbeds or cold frames, in which case the young seedlings are 

 started earlier than for field cultivation, the seed being sown in 

 January or February, according to the time it is desired to trans- 

 plant to the spent hotbeds or cold frames. On Long Island, where 

 early cauliflower is grown to a considerable extent, the practice of 

 starting plants early in the season and bringing them to maturity 

 in spent hotbeds or cold frames is quite common. The regular 

 season for cauliflower on Long Island is, however, the autumn. 

 The seed for this crop is sown in May in the same manner as 

 cabbage seed for a late crop. 



The transplanting is done, preferably by means of a transplanter, 

 between June 20 and July 10, according to the season. The young 

 plants are set at intervals of from 15 to 18 inches in rows from 

 30 inches to 3 feet apart and are watered in. The same careful 

 cultivation required for a successful cabbage crop must be given 

 cauliflower, and when the plants begin to " button," or form heads, 

 great pains must be taken to protect them from insects and guard 

 the forming curd from injury or discoloration. This is usually 

 accomplished by folding the leaves over the head so as to form a 

 canopy and holding them in place by a peculiar method of inter- 

 locking, or by tying them with straw or bands of raffia. Sometimes 

 different methods to indicate the stage of development of the curd 

 are used in the same field. The first covering may be identified 

 by the leaf lock, the second by a straw tie, and the third by a band 

 of raffia. At cutting time it will then be easy to distinguish the 

 more advanced from the younger heads. 



