98 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



feather-stemmed, scarcely any change has taken 

 place for years. 



§ 7. — THE CAULIFLOWER. 



Natural history. — The origin of the name 

 cauliflower (Brassica oleracea Botrytis cauli- 

 flora, De C.) is from the Latin caulis, a stalk, and 

 fero, to bear ; its original name being coleflorie, 

 or colieflorie. It is first mentioned by Gerard, 

 who says, " The white cabbage is next best to 

 the cole flourey ; yet Cato doth chiefly com- 

 mend the russed cole ; but he knew neither the 

 whites nor the cole flourey, for if he had, his 

 censure would have been otherways." From 

 this it appears not to have been known in his 

 day ; subsequent Roman authors, however, men- 

 tion it in such terms as to leave little doubt of 

 its great antiquity, but of its origin we know 

 nothing. Pierre Pompes, an old French author, 

 says, " It comes to us in Paris, by way of Mar- 

 seilles, from the isle of Cyprus, which is the 

 only place I know of where it seeds." From 

 this account Philips remarks, " It would appear 

 that cauliflowers were not much cultivated in 

 France in 1694, when his work was published ; 

 and the French have at present no distinct 

 name for this vegetable, but call it ckou fleur, or 

 cabbage-flower." 



Uses.— The heads or flowers are considered 

 one of the greatest of vegetable delicacies when 

 served up at the table, either plain boiled, to 

 be eaten with meat, like other Brassicae, or 

 dressed with white sauce, after the French 

 manner. It is much used as a pickle, either by 

 itself or forming an ingredient in what is called 

 mixed pickles. It may also be preserved a con- 

 siderable time when pickled in the manner of 

 saur kraut. It also forms an excellent addition 

 in vegetable soups. 



Propagation. — This is by seed sown at 

 various times, for the purpose of keeping 

 up a succession. It is scarcely capable 

 of propagation by cuttings, and in our cold 

 climate must ever be regarded as an annual 

 plant ; for keeping autumn-sown plants 

 under glass, or otherwise protected during 

 winter, does not constitute a biennial. 



Sowing and planting. — Three or four 

 sowings annually is the usual practice ; 

 but the seasons of sowing depend some- 

 what on circumstances, of which climate 

 is the principal. The most prevalent 

 practice, however, is to sow between the 

 18th and 24th of August ; the plants of 

 which sowing, when about 3 inches high, 

 are transferred to a nursery -bed, and set 

 about 4 inches apart. When sufficiently 

 strong — which they will be by the middle 

 of October— they are planted out in shel- 

 tered places, at the bottoms of walls, 

 under hand-glasses, in cold pits or frames, 

 in beds to be hooped over and covered 

 with canvass, and sometimes they are 



potted and kept under glass till spring, 

 when they are planted out for good in 

 the warmest situation the garden offers. 

 These plants flower during May and June 

 following. The second sowing is made 

 about the end of February or beginning 

 of March, on a moderate hotbed, the 

 plants being finally planted out in April; 

 but they should have the advantage of a 

 nursery-bed, if only for a few weeks, to 

 strengthen them. These produce flowers 

 during July and August. The third sow- 

 ing is made about the beginning of April, 

 in the open ground ; and the plants, after 

 being pricked out in a nursery-bed, are 

 finally transplanted in June, and will pro- 

 duce flowers from September until de- 

 stroyed by frost. These are all import- 

 ant matters to attend to. Autumn-sown 

 plants, if destroyed by frost during winter, 

 may be replaced by others, forced upon 

 hotbeds in spring, in time for the first 

 planting ; but a week's delay or advance 

 in the third sowing may lead to the dis- 

 appointment of either having the crop 

 too early to supply the demand during 

 October, November, and December, or 

 it may be too late to flower at all. The 

 above is the English practice, so far as 

 dates are concerned. In most parts of 

 Scotland, from the 1st to the 12th of 

 August is the proper time for sowing the 

 first crop, and a week in advance will be 

 wise as regards the third. As for the 

 second, as artificial means are employed, 

 the exact date must ever be left to the 

 discretion of the cultivator. 



The London practice is to sow "the 

 seed of spring cauliflower about the 20th 

 of September, in open beds. Towards 

 November, when the weather is begin- 

 ning to get cold, frames and hooped beds 

 are got ready in light rich land. The 

 plants are pricked out not more than 4 

 inches apart each way : during the winter 

 they are kept dry ; no rain is allowed to 

 fall upon them, but, whenever practi- 

 cable, plenty of air is given to them. 

 Frost has little effect on them under 

 hoops ; but when excluded long from air, 

 and kept in darkness, they sometimes 

 suffer from damp to a considerable ex- 

 tent. They are planted out in the richest 

 and earliest ground, in February or the 

 beginning of March." — Market- Gardening 

 round London, p. 22. 



Some of our best English gardeners 



