CHAPTER IV. 



THE EARLY CROP. 



I cannot do better in treating of this crop than 

 to first quote the following, by the late Peter Hen- 

 derson, of New York City, from his work on " Gar- 

 dening for Pleasure'': 



" There is quite an ambition among amateur 

 gardeners to raise early cauliflower, but as the con- 

 ditions necessary to success with this are not quite 

 so easy to command as with most other vegetables, 

 probably not one in three who try it succeed. In 

 England, and most places on the Continent of 

 Europe, it is the most valued of all vegetables, and 

 is grown there nearly as easily as early cabbages. 

 But it must be remembered that the temperature 

 there is on the average ten degrees lower at the 

 time it matures (June) than with us; besides, their 

 atmosphere is much more humid, two conditions 

 essential to its proper development. I will briefly 

 state how early cauliflowers can be most success- 

 fully grown here. First, the soil must be well 

 broken, and pulverized by spading to at least a foot 

 in depth, mixing through it a layer of three or four 

 inches of strong well-rotted stable manure. The 

 plants may be either those from seed sown last fall 



