198 On the Cultivation of Brussels Sprouts. 



Scarlet Runners, or amongst young trees, it must be con- 

 sidered superior in utility to most others. 



The plants in my garden grow to the height of four feet 

 without their tops, and are covered with sprouts from the 

 root upwards. The top is sometimes left on till the spring, 

 and is then gathered for use ; it is very delicate when dressed, 

 and different in flavour from the sprouts. I do not think 

 the produce of sprouts is at all affected by the removal of 

 the head. The plants resist the severest cold, and the only 

 effect, apparently, produced by frost upon them is, that the 

 leaves of the shoots close themselves more together, and be- 

 come more compact. The small Cabbages thus formed are 

 never, with us, more than half an inch in diameter, they 

 would not be esteemed if they were larger. In the spring, 

 when the shoots are disposed to run to flower, we check 

 their growth by taking up the plants and laying them in the 

 ground, in any shaded spot. 



Besides the usual mode of dressing them, the sprouts are 

 sometimes served at table with a sauce composed of vinegar, 

 butter, and nutmeg, poured upon them hot, after they have 

 been boiled. 



The seeds are saved indiscriminately from the plants which 

 have been topped, or from those on which the tops have re- 

 mained ; but I intend in future to collect my seeds solely 

 from the tops, which practice has, I suspect, not been gene- 

 ral, only because the tops are so frequently cut for the table 

 in the spring, before they run to flower. 



We have no information of the origin of this vegetabl e, 

 but it has been a very old inhabitant of our gardens, for it 



