102 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



routine of wintering them, as usually is 

 done, has a tendency to give unnecessary 

 checks to the plants, and that it would be 

 better to sow for early spring planting in 

 the first week of October, on a very gentle 

 bottom-heat, close to the glass, and to 

 prick out the plants, as soon as they can 

 be handled, into another bed, keeping 

 them still close to the glass. This is the 

 practice of Mr Barnes of Bicton, who says, 

 in "Cottage Gardener," vol. vi. p. 309, 

 " The last week in October and the first 

 week in November they are potted into 

 small 60's, and plunged under frame or pit 

 lights, still close to the glass, and in due 

 season they are again shifted as required 

 into larger pots. At the beginning of Ja- 

 nuary they get their last shift into 7-inch 

 pots — that is, those intended to be turned 

 out under hand-glasses the first week in 

 February — but those plants intended to be 

 grown on and forced in pots in some hot- 

 house, are, of course, shifted into 10-inch 

 or 12-inch pots ; and those intended to be 

 planted out into the borders and quarters 

 are pricked into temporary shallow frames 

 and turf-pits, in order to apply temporary 

 shelter during the severe winter weather, 

 by placing over them spare-lights, thatched 

 hurdles, &c." 



Soil and manure. — Much of the delicacy 

 and excellency of the cauliflower depends 

 on the quickness of its growth ; therefore, 

 to promote this, the soil cannot be too 

 highly enriched, nor too deeply culti- 

 vated ; and, as all the tribe thrive best in 

 new soil, the deeper the ground is dug, 

 and the more new or rested matter that 

 is turned up for the roots, the better. 

 Almost all highly-manured garden soils, 

 if deeply trenched, will produce the cauli- 

 flower in great perfection ; yet, in newly- 

 broke-up soils, all the Brassicse will luxu- 

 riate equally well even with a much more 

 limited dependence on manurial applica- 

 tions. 



Taking the crop and subsequent preserva- 

 tion. — The young heads or flowers are 

 used when of the size of about 2 inches in 

 diameter, and from that until they attain 

 their greatest size, which may be taken as 

 a maximum at 8 or 9 inches in diameter. 

 It is not, however, size that constitutes 

 the properties of a fine cauliflower, but 

 its fine white or creamy colour, its com- 

 pactness, and what is technically called 

 its curdy appearance, from its resemblance 



to the curd of milk in its preparation for 

 cheese. When the flower begins to open, 

 or when it is of a warty or frosty-like 

 appearance, it is less esteemed; and indeed, 

 when exceeding the size of about 3 inches 

 in diameter, it is only fit for secondary 

 market purposes. Nor should it, during 

 summer, be cut above a day before it is 

 to be used. 



Towards the middle of November, 

 should the weather prove severe, both late 

 cauliflower and early white cape broccoli, 

 then coming into flower, should be care- 

 fully protected. To this end the plants 

 may be taken carefully up by the roots, 

 and three or four tied together, and sus- 

 pended with their heads downwards from 

 the roof of some cool shed or outhouse, 

 where there is not too much air, yet 

 which is free from damp : strong currents 

 of air would exhaust the sap from the 

 plants too rapidly, and the flowers would 

 become tough and uneatable, because the 

 roots cannot now make up the deficiency. 

 The leaves, after they have been hung up 

 for a few days, and have become some- 

 what dry, should be folded round the 

 flowers and secured by a string. 



The best way, however, to preserve 

 them during winter, is to take them up 

 with as much soil about their roots as 

 possible, and to replant them in light, 

 dry, sandy soil in an open shed, where 

 the accommodation of a regular structure 

 does not exist. Figs. 676, 677, vol. i. p. 

 437, may be referred to as examples of 

 such. In cool pits, frames, &c, they may 

 be kept in a good state for many weeks ; 

 and even divesting the flowers of their 

 leaves and burying them in masses of 

 peat-earth has, from the antiseptic nature 

 of such a soil, a very beneficial effect on 

 their keeping. In mild localities, the 

 mere breaking down of a leaf or two over 

 the flower is found sufficient protection, 

 as it wards off both wet and frost so long 

 as the temperature does not fall above 

 4° or 5° below freezing : but in colder 

 places it is necessary to protect them as 

 we have stated, or by taking up the plants 

 and laying them in by the heels — that is, 

 replanting them in a slanting direction, 

 and covering the roots and stems fully 

 up to the middle of the leaves, in a shel- 

 tered and northern border, and covering 

 them with branches and straw laid over 

 them to throw off the wet, yet admit air, 



