CAULIFLOWER. 



73 



finest table cauliflowers during the summer, though they 

 certainly do not come in quite so early. Cauliflower plants, 

 it is probab.^e, are often killed with too much attention. 

 Seedlings, raised late in autumn, seem to be very tenacious 

 of life."— Ca/ecZ. Hort. Menu iii. 192. " A method of pro- 

 ducing cauliflowers, pretty early, and with great certainty, 

 is this : — The plants are set in small pots in the winter 

 season, and kept in any convenient part of the floor of a 

 vinery or other glazed house. In the beginning of March, 

 they are taken out of the pots with the bail of earth attach- 

 ed, and planted in the open ground. If they be here pro- 

 tected against severe frosts with bell-glass covers, they 

 come into head in the course of April, if the weather 

 prove favourable." — Neill^ in Edin. Encyc, 



Drummond, of the Cork botanic garden, protects cauli- 

 flovvcr plants during winter by planting them in exca- 

 vations made in the comm.on soil of the garden, and covered 

 with frames thatched with long, straight wheat straw. He 

 uncovers constantly, in mild Vv^eather, whether nights ox 

 days. — Hort. Trails, v. 369. 



For after-culture, preservation through winter, saving 

 $eed, &c^ proceed as with the common white cabbage. 



Use. — " Among the succulent plants produced in our 

 flimate, this doubtless is one of the most nourishing, and 

 iikewise the best adapted to tender organs of digestion, 

 especially in valetudinarians and invalids : such persons, 

 however, ought to eat it with the addition of some aromatic 

 spice, such as pounded cardamoma, or caraway, or a small 

 proportion of bread. To make the cauliflower blanch 

 handsomely, the gardeners tie over the heads of the plant. 



" To prepare caulifloioers. — Let the cauliflowers first be 

 parboiled ; next they must be immersed in cold, hard water, 

 ^or some time, till they be nearly wanted for the table; thus, 

 on being boiled for a few minutes, they will become more 

 firm and crisp than if cooked in the usual manner." — Dam, 

 Encyc. 



Neill (in Edinburgh Encyc.) observes, "These heads or 

 flowers being boiled, generally wrapped in a clean linen 

 cloth, are served up as a most delicate vegetable dish. 

 Cauliflower is a particular favourite in this country. ' Of 

 all the flowers in the garden,' Dr. Johnson used to say, 

 ^ I like the cauliflower.' For the early supply of the 

 London market, very great quantities of cauliflower are 

 fostered under hand-glasses during winter and the first part 

 7 



