Jnne 15. 1871. 1 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTDKB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



415 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















Day 



Week. 





Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



Smi 



Sun 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clock 



b ef ore 



Sun. 



Day 



Montli 



JUNE 15—21, 1871. 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Year. 









Day. 



Niffht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





15 



Th 



Royal Botanic Society's Show closes. 



72.8 



48.2 



60.5 



19 



44afS 



16af8 



31 af2 



41 af 5 



27 



3 



166 



16 



F 





72.6 



48.3 



60.4 



18 



44 S 



16 8 



55 2 



49 6 



28 



16 



167 



17 



S 





72.9 



47.3 



60.1 



23 



44 3 



16 S 



23 8 



51 7 



29 



29 



168 



IS 



SnN 



2 StJSDAT AFTEE TEINITT. 



73.3 



50.4 



61.3 



21 



44 3 



17 8 



57 3 



49 8 



9 



42 



169 



19 



M 





70.8 



48.6 



69.7 



22 



44 3 



17 8 



41 4 



39 9 



2 



55 



170 



20 



To 



Meeting of Zoological Society, 9 p.m. 



72.3 



48.6 



60.4 



20 



44 8 



18 8 



S3 5 



20 10 



S 



1 8 



171 



21 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Frnit, Floral, 



74.4 



50.6 



62.4 



18 



44 3 



18 8 



35 6 



63 10 



4 



1 21 



172 







[ and General Meeting. 























From observations taken near London during fortv-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 72 6 



, and its night tem- 



perature 48.8=. The greatest heat was 93', on the 19th, 1846 ; and the lowest cold 80°, on the 15th, 1850, and 20th, 186c 



. The greatest fall of 



rain was 1.46 inch. 





1 



WHAT IS BROCCOLI ?— No. 1. 



HIS is a question wbicli I have often asked, and 

 I have searched for an answer, but in vain. 

 Our old authorities are nearly mute, and our 

 modern ones quite so, as to the definition of 

 a Broccoli. Miller, in his " Gardener's Dic- 

 tionary," hints at the close relationship be- 

 tween Cauliflower and Broccoli : indeed he 

 supposes that the Broccolies of liis time were 

 derived originally from Cauliflower. My 

 opinion is that there is no difference between 

 some Broccolies and Cauliflowers ; in fact, we speak of the 

 Waloheren as a Cauliflower at one time, and at another as 

 a Broccoli. Either it is a Broccoli or a Cauliflower, or there 

 is no difference in the meaning of the words, and if so, 

 why should not one name suffice ? To have a thing called 

 by two names is not desirable. It misleads the public, 

 and is to the gardener a source of bewilderment. In almost 

 all seed-lists we find Walcheren under tlie heading of 

 Broccoli, and also under that of Cauliflower. This leads 

 to the conclusion that Broccoli and Cauliflower have no 

 distinct characteristics. But I am no believer in the iden- 

 tity of Broccoli and Cauliflower. 



It is worthy of note that whist we make great additions 

 in point of names to the list of varieties of Broccoli, no 

 great additions are made to that of Cauliflower. This 

 tends to confirm Miller's supposition of Broccoli being 

 derived originally from the Cauliflower, for the nearer any 

 plant is to its original form the more permanent or true 

 it wiU contiuue in its progeny; but a cross-bred, as the 

 Broccoli (in case Miller's supposition is correct), must be 

 multiplied, as it is to a great extent continually breaking 

 into further deviations from the original. This is the case 

 vrith nearly all the Broccolies of more than ten years' stand- 

 ing. When first sent out, and for a few years afterwards, 

 the kind is first-class in every respect, or is aU that its 

 raiser and sender-out described it to be, but after a few 

 seasons a great difference is apparent in the habit, hardi- 

 ness, and heading of the plants. Some have the charac- 

 teristics of the kind as sent out, whilst others have no 

 resemblance ; in fact, at last the kind is so degenerated 

 as to make the grower glad to obtain something newer and 

 rnore profitable. There were good Broccolies in Miller's 

 time, no doubt. I can remember some very good twenty- 

 five years ago, but none of those so recent as that are to 

 be compared to the Broccoli of the present day, not more 

 than one in ten of the old sorts coming true to name. 



I am persuaded that a Broccoli, so called, sown, say, in 

 April, and heading in the following autumn, is not a 

 Broccoli at all, but a Cauliflower, and a variety sown after 

 midsummer, and heading in the following summer, is not 

 a Broccoli but a Cauliflower. A true Broccoli 'and I 

 believe there are and were such), if sown so that planting 

 had to be performed after August, will not head in the 

 following year, either at its proper or any season, though 

 it may form a green — never white — open, stalky head, not 

 unlike an open Cabbage going to seed. It is also remark- 

 able that a true Broccoli from an April sowing kept dry 

 Vo. 6S3.— Vol. XS., New Seeieb. 



' and close-standing, so that the plants are not more than 

 a few inches high, with three leaves or so, and not planted 

 until September, will not head in the following year, but 

 instead of that will start into growth very vigorously, be- 

 coming a giant in its way, and if left will produce immense 

 heads in the spring, two years after sowing. 



I have also noted that the seed of true Broccoli must be 

 sown so early in spring, and the plants be planted out early 

 enough in summer, that they may make a good growth and 

 form heads before .January, or, in other words, be perfected 

 by the growth of the first season, so that nothing remains 

 but the development of the heads with the return of genial 

 weather. If, from late sowing and planting, the plants 

 have not formed a head in embryo before the growth, from 

 cold, becomes stationary, they will not head in the ensuing 



' spring or early part of summer, but will, as before stated, 

 become giants, and form very large heads in the following 



'■ season, or at the same time as plants from seed sown in 

 April or May, though frequently they form immense green ' 

 heads not unlike a "Cabbage and ran to seed. This would 



' indicate the origin of Broccoli to have been an open or 



' non. hearting Cabbage, and many of the varieties after they 

 have been long in cultivation exliibit the non-heading ten- 

 dency, which Cauliflowers, to my knowledge, never do. 



The difference in the time of sowing makes no difference 

 as regards the season Of a true Broccoli coming into use. 

 Sown in March, April, or May, or from either extreme of 

 the thirteen weeks, there is no material difference in the 

 time of the heading or fitness for gathering or cutting. Of 

 course there is considerable difference as regards the dif- 

 ferent kinds, but I am alluding to successional sowings of 

 one kind — Mammoth, for instance, being, as it is in every 

 sense, a true Broccoli — and there is no difference, except 

 in the size of the plants and heads, between a sowing ia 

 March and a sowing in May. 



A Broccoli, as I accept the term, is a hardy variety or 

 offshoot of Cauliflower which does not head the samo 

 season as sown. Any varieties that are sown in April, 

 and come into use in autumn, or that are sown in August, 

 or after midsummer, and head in the following summer, 

 are in my opinion Cauliflowers ; indeed, Walcheren and 

 Grange's Autumn, though they may have Broccoli parent- 

 age, are as much Cauliflowers as Early London, Asiatic, 

 Stadtholder, Erfurt, or any other. The Cauliflowers keep 

 up a succession from June to January, and the Broccoli 

 from December to the middle of June, so that with both 

 a supply of good heads can be had all the year round, and 

 if we include Walcheren and Grange's Autumn (which I 

 consider Cauliflowers), there is no difficulty in keeping up a 

 continual supply of Broccoli without including Cauliflowers, 

 except in very severe weather in midwinter. — G. Abbey. 



THE JAPANESE HONEYSUCKLE. 

 In reply to Mr. Bartrum's remarks in your last number, 

 I beg to inform him that I have flowered the Japanese 

 Honeysuckle here for many years. I bought a plant as 

 soon as it was sent out, in 1861 or 1862, I forget which. 

 This plant bloomed at once, and in 1804 I mentioned the 

 No. 1185.— Vol. XLV., Old Sehjes 



