BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 89 



when the farmer and market gardener has but little 

 to do. In many instances the hired man is now 

 employed the whole year, as his services are as 

 valuable in winter in picking and preparing the 

 sprouts for the market as they are in the summer in 

 growing them. The farmer who has employment 

 every day in the year materially increases his income. 



VARIETY. 



There is but one variety in general use with us, 

 and that is the half-dwarf (Fig. 12) . The best seed 

 is now grown on Long Island, as the growers are 

 paying special attention to the saving of the seed. 

 The same improvement that has been made in the 

 development of the cabbage is equally marked in the 

 Brussels sprouts. By careful selection and through 

 climatic influences, the variety has improved both in 

 quality and productiveness. From the improved 

 type two quarts of the little heads fit for market have 

 been taken from a single plant. But a quart from a 

 plant would be a good crop, and a paying one, as a 

 quart is worth in the market at least twice as much 

 as a head of cabbage — frequently from three to four 

 times as much. 



