204 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



White Wild Carrot, which was rather like the Breteuil White Carrot, 

 and had a fine flavour and odour, but was deficient in sweetness ; 

 and the Improved Red Verrieres Wild Carrot, which was not 

 productive, but was very regular in shape, with a very fine neck 

 and remarkably slight leaves. These varieties, however, after 

 having been grown for some time as a scientific curiosity, did not 

 come into general cultivation, and were eventually discarded. 



Amongst the varieties which do not come under any of the 

 strains which have just been described, we may mention the 

 following : — Bardowick Carrot. — A fine variety of Long Red 

 Carrot, almost free from core, and somewhat resembling the 

 Altringham Carrot. The Dutch variety named De Duzuick is a 

 rather shorter kind than the Half-long Red varieties, yet bears no 

 analogy to the Early Scarlet Horn. It is a pretty good kind for 

 field culture, but the Blunt-pointed Half-long varieties are much 

 better. The Long Orange Carrot is a variety grown in the 

 United States of America, of a lighter colour, greater length, and 

 with a broader neck than the Common Long Red Carrot. 



The English varieties Matchless Scarlet and Scarlet Perfection 

 come very near the St. Valery Carrot. They are, however, a little 

 thinner and more elongated. 



There are several varieties of large white Carrots which we need 

 not describe, as they are grown exclusively for cattle-feeding. 



CAULIFLOWER 



Brassica oleracea Botrytis^ D.C. 



French, Chou-fleur. German, Blumenkohl, Carviol. Flemish and Dtitch^ Bloemkool. 

 Italian, Cavolfiore. Spanish, Coliflor. Portuguese, Couve-flor. 



In the different varieties of Cabbage known as Cauliflowers, it 

 is the floral organs, or, more properly speaking, the flower-stems, 

 which have been artificially modified in size and appearance in the 

 course of cultivation. The flowers themselves have, for the most 

 part, been rendered abortive, and the branchlets along which they 

 grow, gaining in thickness what they lose in length, form a sort of 

 regular corymb with a white fleece-like surface, which is rarely 

 broken by a few small leaves growing through it. These floral 

 branchlets, having become large, white, thick, and very tender, 

 produce nothing but a homogeneous mass, so to say, and the 

 rudiments of the flowers are only represented by the minute and 

 almost imperceptible prominences which are found on the upper 

 surface of what is termed the " head " of the Cauliflower. 



Culture. — It may be said that the cultivation of the Cauli- 

 flower is one of the most simple processes, and, at the same time, 

 one of the most difficult to carry out well. In fact, with the 



