CHAPTER IX. 



BROCCOLI. 



The Broccolis are so similar to the cauliflowers 

 that some account of them may be expected in a 

 treatise on the latter vegetable. In fact, no im- 

 portant structural difference between the two vege- 

 tables exists, the broccolis being merely a more 

 robust and hardy group of varieties, requiring a 

 longer period for development, and adapted, in 

 mild climates, to cultivation during the winter. 

 They are, in fact, often called " winter cauliflowers." 

 They receive but little attention in the United 

 States, where the winters, at least at the north, in 

 the vicinity of the leading markets, are too severe 

 for the out- door growth of vegetables of any kind. 

 For this reason cauliflowers, which come to maturity 

 in a single season, are grown instead. The supply 

 of these two vegetables, therefore, which in western 

 Europe, by means of successive sowings of varieties 

 of both cauliflowers and broccolis, may be main- 

 tained the year round, is here, owing to the condi- 

 tions of our climate, confined chiefly to the seasons 

 of the year in which cauliflower can be obtained. 



Although no sharp distinctions can be drawn 

 between broccolis and cauliflowers, there are cer- 



