BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 87 



fault of the plant, as its capabilities are fully as great 

 as stated. 



As a rule, the young heads will be ready for 

 market by the middle of October, but they should 

 not be picked until after the first hard frost, which 

 makes them more delicate and tender. Picking may 

 commence at any time after the little heads are an 

 inch in diameter, if they are hard and solid, stripping 

 the larger ones first, which will afford the others a 

 chance to grow, and this they will do at all times 

 when the circulation of sap is not checked by severe 

 cold and the picking is kept up the entire winter. 

 Upon the approach of winter, in latitudes where 

 there are heavy falls of snow, the plants can be cut 

 close to the ground and stored in a warm shed or 

 cellar and the little heads taken off at leisure. 



For a late crop a sowing may be made the last 

 week in June, and these plants will remain out during 

 the winter, and the crop gathered in March. The 

 plants will endure twenty degrees of frost without 

 injury, and will grow every day during winter when 

 the temperature is not much below the freezing point. 



The crop is marketed in the following manner : 

 The little heads are broken off from the stem and 

 packed in quart boxes and these are packed in crates 

 in precisely the same manner as strawberries. Care 

 must be taken in packing to remove the loose outer 

 leaves from the heads so that they will appear fresh 

 when they reach the market. As the season advances 

 there will be more of these to be taken off. At the 

 same time the price usually advances late in the 

 season, so that in case the heads are half wasted in 

 picking over, the profit will be just the same. 



This is comparatively a new industry in this 



