U6 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Apr. 



Young cauliflower-plants raised from seed sown last month, 

 should now be pricked out into nursery-beds, or some in a 

 hot-bed, to forward them for final transplantation. 



The cauliflower-plants which were produced from seed sown 

 early this season, should be removed about the latter end of 

 this month, if sufficiently strong, if not, defer it till next month. 



Choose a piece of good ground for them, in an open situa- 

 tion ; some good rotten dung should be dug in. Set the plants 

 about two feet, or thirty inches apart from each other every way. 



Water them as soon as they are planted ; and in dry wea- 

 ther repeat it occasionally, till the plants have taken good root. 



SOWING CAULIFLOWERS. 



Cauliflower for a successional crop may be sown any time in 

 this month on a sheltered border. 



Birds being very destructive to the seeds of all the brassica 

 tribe, it will therefore be necessary to guard against them by 

 covering the beds with 

 mats, or with old fish- 

 ing-nets, if they can be 

 procured, until the seeds 

 begin to vegetate. The 

 annexed figure repre- 

 sents a very good and 

 simple scare -crow for 

 birds. Take a long 

 straight slender rod of 

 hazel, or any other elastic wood, about six or eight feet long, 

 place it in the ground in a slanting direction ; from the point 

 A drop the line B of small cord, to which at C fix a potato, 

 which is stuck full of feathers of different colours. This will 

 produce a simple pendulum, which is kept in motion by the 

 wind ; the potato may be suspended at about twelve or fifteen 

 inches from the ground. This is an efficacious method of 

 scaring away birds, and it was observed by a friend in the gar- 

 dens of the late A. Bacon, Esq. of Elcot, in Berkshire. 



The cauliflower-plants kept in pots during the winter may, 

 when the weather is fine, be planted out. The ground being 



