BRASSICACEOUS PLANTS.— BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 



9] 



blood-red, large red, drumhead, Dutch, and the 

 Aberdeen red — a coarse, open-hearted half cab- 

 bage, half borecole, much grown in the North 

 of Scotland, in cottage and farm gardens, on 

 account of its extreme hardiness. 



The first and fourth are the best, if they can 

 be procured genuine. They are sown, planted, 

 and managed in the same way as the drumhead 

 cabbage, noticed above, only, being of much 

 smaller growth, they may at final planting be 

 set at the distance of 1\ feet apart row from 

 row, and 1^ feet in the line. On the approach 

 of severe frost they should be taken up, and 

 either buried in dry soil, or hung up by the 

 roots in a dry airy shed, where they will keep 

 for a long time. When the heads are cut, the 

 roots should be immediately removed, as no 

 longer of use, and to prevent exhausting the soil. 



§ 4. — BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 



Natural history. — Brussels sprouts {Brassica 

 oleracea bullata, gemmifera, De C, bud-bearing 

 cabbage). Of this much-esteemed vegetable, in- 

 troduced into this country from the Continent 

 only of late years, there are only two varieties, a 

 taller and a dwarfer grower, var} 7 ing in height 

 from 1 to 4 feet. The former is the most pro- 

 ductive, on account of its greater length of stem, 

 along the whole length of which the sprouts, 

 like little cabbages, are thickly set. The latter 

 stands the winter best. It derives its name of 

 chou de Bruxelles from having been extensively cul- 

 tivated around Brussels from time immemorial. 



Uses. — It is used much in the way other 

 cabbages are, being sent to table stewed, and as 

 a garnish for butcher-meat, and at the best 

 tables is presented, from the size of a large 

 marrow-fat pea, which they indeed somewhat 

 resemble, to that of their natural full size, 

 somewhat under that of a pigeon's egg. The 

 outer leaves being carefully removed, the hard, 

 compact, little sprout is presented whole. 

 Sometimes they are boiled, which is done with 

 great care, using plenty of water, and that at 

 the boiling point, when they are thrown in, 

 adding a handful of salt, and leaving off the lid 

 of the vessel. With the view of preserving their 

 delicate green colour, they are covered with a 

 rich stock sauce, in which vinegar and nutmeg 

 form a part. They are also served boiled with 

 white sauce, and in private families with melted 

 butter. The quantity grown throughout the 

 north of France, Belgium, and Holland is truly 

 astonishing, whole fields of them being seen all 

 over the country. 



Sowing and planting . — Regarding their 

 cultivation, they are sown early in April, 

 and transplanted in June, into rows 2 

 feet apart, and the plants set 18 inches 

 distant in the line. Their sowing, trans- 

 planting, &c, differ not from that of early 

 cabbage : the same proportion of seed is 

 also used. The soil, however, is in a dif- 

 ferent condition. If planted in soil as 

 highly manured as that for other cabbage, 



the sprouts would be produced coarse, 

 large, and open, whereas the smaller and 

 more compact they are the better. In 

 Belgium, where an almost constant suc- 

 cession of sprouts is kept up, they sow on 

 a slight hotbed in February, prick out on a 

 warm border, and transplant towards the 

 end of April. They afterwards make two 

 or three separate sowings, at the distance 

 of three weeks from each. 



In England, for private families, two 

 sowings are necessary — one in February, 

 on slight bottom-heat, and the other in 

 April. In Scotland, they often sow in 

 August, and keep the plants over winter 

 for spring planting, and again in March 

 for a secondary crop. In the former, the 

 first-sown crop comes into use in Sep- 

 tember, in the latter in November, at 

 which time vegetation is moderated in 

 growth, and the crop lasts till March ; 

 the second following in April and part of 

 May, if the crop be taken up in February, 

 and replanted to give it a check. By 

 early and late sowing, and the superior 

 advantage of climate, the Brussels mar- 

 ket is supplied from the end of July to 

 the beginning of May following. "The 

 London practice," says Mr Cuthill, a high 

 authority in such matters, " is to sow in 

 May ; but it should," he remarks, " be 

 March. The Scotch sow them in August. 

 Sown in May, it is impossible for the 

 plants to get so tall, stout, and cover the 

 stems so well with fine large sprouts, as 

 when sown in March. I have had them," 

 he says, " 3 feet high, covered from top to 

 bottom, each stem producing one peck of 

 large close sprouts." 



Subsequent culture. — The ground should 

 be kept well stirred by frequent hoeing, 

 not mere surface -scratching with a 

 Dutch hoe, which, were it not for gravel 

 walks, and that as seldom as possible, 

 should be banished from gardens. The 

 draw-hoe is better; and even that, beyond 

 the mere cutting down of small weeds, 

 which should not be allowed to appear, 

 will be much better substituted by the 

 Vernon hoe, fig. 3, or any of the modi- 

 fications of it. When the plants are 

 about a foot high, draw a little soil around 

 their roots ; and when about three parts 

 grown, and while the sprouts are forming, 

 the side leaves should be broken off, a 

 few at a time, to give room to the sprouts 

 to swell, and also that, by their removal, 



