142 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



of peas or early potatoes has been removed ; and the 

 brocoli again is out of the way in due season for be- 

 ing succeeded by various summer crops. It is not 

 necessary to be troubled with the many varieties of 

 this plant. The sulphur is the best, and should 

 grow, being well manured, to a circumference of 

 from twenty to thirty inches of solid flower one 

 stock yielding a perfect feast to a whole family. For 

 an autumn crop, the seed is sown in April; and for 

 a spring crop next year, it is sown in the end of May. 

 The winter sometimes proves too hard for this plant, 

 and may cause the loss of half your crop ; but plant 

 on, as the ground is not lost, and in general you will 

 have pleasant food instead of waste land, and enjoy 

 a real luxury without the sin of extravagance. The 

 purple variety is more hardy, and may be set thicker 

 as it does not grow to half the size of the former. 

 For the spring crop, which has the winter to endure, 

 the warmest and most sheltered border is in general 

 to be chosen ; but as it will sometimes be found less 

 injured by frost in the open quarters, it may be as 

 well to give it both chances. 



To keep the heart of the plant near the surface of 

 the ground is the best security ; and to accomplish 

 this, let the seedling plants be early thinned, to avoid 

 long stems ; and in transplanting, give them plenty 

 of room the larger sort, twenty by fifteen inches, 

 and the smaller somewhat less. In low and warm 

 districts, it is found of advantage, about the end of 

 autumn, to lift the full grown brocoli stocks, and 

 plunge them up to the neck in the soil, or so to recline 

 them that their heads may rest on the surface of 

 the ground ; but in higher places, where fresh root- 



