32 



HOW TO GROW 



quite early in boxes or flower pots in the house 

 or conservatory. A bay window or a closed ve- 

 randa, well exposed to the sun, may be made to 

 do great service in starting early plants. As for 

 the pricking out and treatment, the instructions 

 given under the head cf forcing, with regard to 

 distance, temperature, airing, etc., must be kept 

 in mind. The object must be to keep the plants 

 slowly growing, stocky and strong, until it is safe 

 to transplant into the open ground. This is 

 attained by starting the plants in a light, sandy 

 soil, watering sparingly, airing freely, keeping the 

 temperature moderate, and leaving sufficient space, 

 so that each plant may be well exposed to the 

 light. If the light only comes from one side, the 

 plants will be liable to "draw/ 3 which must be 

 avoided by occasionallv turnino; the boxes. 



In addition to what has already been said about 

 manuring, I wish to call attention to experiments 

 made with phosphoric acid manure, which indi- 

 cate a decidedly good effect of such manure upon 

 the development of the cauliflower. The areas 

 subject to the experiment were each of the size of 

 one " are," about one thousand square feet, of 

 which the one patch was manured with 73 kilo- 

 grams of the phosphoric acid manure, and the 

 other with 3000 kilograms of good compost earth.* 

 The plants subject to the former treatment grew 



* The are is about one forty-fifth of an acre. Seventy-five kilo- 

 grams is equal to 165 pounds avoirdupois. The 3000 kilograms of 

 compost would be about three tons or two-horse wagon loads. — Ed. 



