28 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 



chapter. The soil in which the plants are to be 

 grown should be rich and fine, rather light, and 

 improved, if necessary, with a little of the finest old 

 rotted manure. A small amount of lime 'or ashes 

 raked into the soil is a benefit, and is ^thought to 

 prevent the attack of the cabbage maggot, though 

 its value, if any, for this purpose, is slight. An old 

 brush -heap burnt off makes a favorite place for sow- 

 ing cauliflower and cabbage seed, bat it is seldom 

 that market gardeners care to go out of their way to 

 get such a place. The large cauliflower growers of 

 Long Island usually sow the seed in drills across 

 one end of the field in which the crop is to be grown, 

 raking into the soil before sowing, a moderate dress- 

 ing of some commercial fertilizer. 



It is often recommended to sow the seed on the 

 north side of a fence, or in some other partially 

 shaded place. I have never seen any necessity for 

 this, and once spoiled a quantity of plants by grow- 

 ing them in the partial shade of some large trees. 

 At the South, as elsewhere stated, it is sometimes 

 necessary to give the young plants shade during 

 the middle of the day if they are started in the 

 summer months. 



The seed should always be sown thinly, not only 

 because it is expensive and none should be wasted, 

 but in order that all may have room to develop into 

 healthy and stocky plants. If the weather is at all 



