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CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



protected on the top by a roofing of 

 boarding, straw-thatched hurdles, or a 

 tarpauling covering, which would ward 

 off at once both wet and frost. Great 

 care, however, must be taken in such a 

 mode of protection that the plants be not 

 crowded too closely together, else the 

 want of a free circulation of air amongst 

 them would be as disastrous to their safe 

 keeping as if they had been left to take 

 their chance where they were grown. As 

 soon also as the heads are cut for use, 

 the foliage should be instantly removed 

 for the preservation of those that remain. 



Laying in dry farm or stable litter 

 between the rows, as high as the length 

 of the stems, would protect the roots, but 

 would afford no shelter to the leaves and 

 hearts. Nor do we approve of Mr Knight's 

 recommendation of transplanting in Sep- 

 tember, setting them deep in the ground 

 with a view to encourage young roots 

 from the stem to assist in swelling out 

 the flower in spring. The late-flowering 

 sorts will make roots when laid down as 

 we have proposed, which will be in action 

 during April and May, and no doubt will 

 produce this effect. Those that flower be- 

 fore that period will have no such means 

 of support, but must depend upon the sap 

 already elaborated in the plant during 

 the previous summer and autumn. 



Soil and manure. — As we have said of 

 cabbage, the soil can neither be too rich 

 nor too deeply dug or trenched, the 

 object in both cases being bulk of pro- 

 duce — unless, indeed, a very early supply 

 is required, when a less luxuriant state in 

 the plants may induce earlier maturity. 

 All the Brassicse are improved by lime, and 

 to this may very safely be added a slight 

 top-dressing of salt once or twice during 

 their growth, the whole tribe being indige- 

 nous to calcareous soils, and in close proxi- 

 mity with the sea. Copious manuring with 

 sea-weed, where it is readily procured, 

 has produced excellent crops : a slight in- 

 quiry into the cause will lead us to view 

 common salt as the stimulating ingre- 

 dient. From experiments now in course 

 of trial, we believe that flower of sulphur 

 would be ultimately considered an excel- 

 lent ingredient, not only as entering into 

 the constitution of the plant, but as a 

 preventive to the attacks of insects. 



Taking the crop. — For the highest class 

 tables broccoli should be cut when about 



the size of a goose's egg, three heads 

 forming a genteel dish. When for ordi- 

 nary purposes, it should be taken when 

 nearly full-grown, and before what is 

 technically termed the curd is broken — 

 that is, the flower opening — for on its 

 firm and compact appearance much of 

 its merit depends. 



Approved sorts and their qualities. — 1 . Grange's 

 early cauliflower broccoli is an old variety that, 

 if procured true, still stands high in estimation, 

 having a head nearly as large and as white as a 

 cauliflower. The foot-stalks of the leaves are 

 long and naked ; the leaves somewhat ovate, 

 slightly lobbed at the base, very slightly waved, 

 and incurving a little over the flower, defending 

 it from frost and wet. Not a large grower, 

 and, being upright in habit, may stand at 2 feet 

 distance apart. If sown in April or May, it will 

 flower from the end of September till the end 

 of December. Successional sowings of it should 

 be made from April till the end of June. The 

 London market-gardeners sow only four sorts, 

 of which this is the principal, the others being 

 the Walcheren, late London white, and the early 

 purple or sprouting broccoli. 



2. Walcheren. — Comparatively new; first pro- 

 duced by Mr Legg of Bishopsthorpe ; so closely 

 resembles cauliflower as to be scarcely distin- 

 guishable from it. The leaves are more curled 

 than in the cauliflower, and its constitution is of 

 a hardier nature, standing our ordinary winter 

 in the open garden, and withstanding better the 

 extreme droughts of summer. Mr Legg's prac- 

 tice in keeping up a constant succession is to 

 sow the third week of April, middle and end of 

 May, the middle and end of June, and the 

 middle and end of July. For early spring use 

 he sows about the 25th or 27th of August, 

 keeping the plants through the winter under 

 hand-glasses in the usual manner, leaving, how- 

 ever, only three or four plants under each glass. 

 Of itself, by the above timeous sowings, it will 

 become a complete substitute for all the others, 

 and be at any time scarcely distinguishable from 

 cauliflower. 



3. Gillespie's. — A fine white early autumn sort 

 much grown about Edinburgh ; does not appear 

 to be as yet much known about London. Treat- 

 ment the same as for Grange's early. The same 

 distance also. 



4. Early purple or sprouting, attaining the 

 height of from 2 to 3 feet ; somewhat spread- 

 ing; requires to be set 3 feet apart. Much 

 grown by the London market-gardeners, and is 

 much prized by French cooks, who dress the 

 little sprouts in a variety of ways. The flower 

 is close-headed, and of a fine purple at first, if 

 the seed is genuine. It branches into sprouts 

 afterwards, but is apt to lose its colour and 

 become greenish, as well as to produce nume- 

 rous small green leaves intermixed with the 

 flower, if set in too rich ground. The London 

 growers sow it along with all their other broc- 

 colis in May, when it comes into use in Novem- 

 ber, and continues all the winter, as fresh 

 sprouts of flowers are produced from the alee of 



