624 BRASSICACEOUS ESCULENTS, OR THE CABBAGE TRIBE. 



resembles the common cabbage, and may be cultivated in the same manner. 

 As it is chie% used during winter, and after it has been mellowed by frost, 

 only one sowing is necessary in March, for planting out from June to August. 

 The best varieties are the large late green^ and the yellow^ which, however, 

 is not so hardy as the other. 



1377. Brussels sprouts^ B. oleracea buUata gemmifera, Dec. (Chou de 

 Bruxelles, or a jets, Fr.\ differs from the savoy in forming small green 

 heads like miniature savoy cabbages along its stem, which often grows three 

 feet or four feet high. These miniature cabbages are used as winter greens, 

 or with a sauce composed of vinegar, butter, and nutmeg, poured upon them 

 hot after they have been boiled. The top, or terminal cabbage, is very deli- 

 cate when dressed, and quite different in flavour from the side cabbages. 

 There is no particular variety, but as the plant is supposed to degenerate in 

 Britain, seeds from Brussels are preferred. These are sown early in April, 

 and the plants transplanted into rows, eighteen inches apart every way, 

 in J une. The side leaves are sometimes taken off as the plants advance in 

 height, to throw more sap into the buds which form the sprouts, or side 

 cabbages ; these come into use after the first frost. 



1378. Borecole^ B. oleracea acephala sabellica. Bee. (Chou vert, or non 

 pomme, Fr.^. Of this variety there are many sub- varieties, but the best are 

 the dwarf green Scotch kale, syns. German greens, curlies ; and the dwarf 

 purple Scotch kale, the latter being valued by cooks, on account of its boiling 

 to a brighter green than the other. For very cold late situations there is 

 the Jerusalem kale, syn. Ragged Jack, a dwarf sub-variety, with long ser- 

 rated leaves, which, being produced close to the ground, the plants are less 

 injured by the frost than those of the taller varieties. The Buda, syn. 

 Russian kale, is so dwarf as scarcely to have any stem, and is ver}^ hardy. 

 The sprouts of this kind may be blanched like sea-kale by turning a pot 

 over the plant early in spring. As all the borecoles are only wanted during 

 winter and spring to supply the place of cabbage, the seeds are sown in April, 

 or later, and the plants put out, where they are finally to remain in J une ; 

 or earlier or later, according to the situation, and the ground which may 

 become vacant. The distance of the Scotch kale may be two feet between 

 the rows, and eighteen inches in the row ; those of the Buda and Jerusalem 

 kale may be a few mches less. 



1379. Cauliflower, B. oleracea Botrytis cauliflora, Dec. (Chou-fieur, Fr.), 

 is the most delicate production of the cabbage tribe, both with reference to 

 the table, and to its culture. The head of embryo flowers is the part used, 

 and it ought to be compact, round, not broken at the edges, convex on the 

 upper surface, and succulent throughout. There are only two varieties, the 

 common, and the large Asiatic, the latter newly introduced. In books an 

 early and a late variety are mentioned, but in the seed-shops and gardens 

 they are the same, the earliness or lateness depending on the time of sowing. 

 As it is desirable to have cauliflower as many months in the year as possible, 

 three sowings are made at different times, viz. : between the 18tli and 24th 

 of August, for plants to stand through the winter and produce the first 

 crop next May and June ; in the end of February or beginning of March, on 

 a moderate hot-bed for transplanting in April, to produce the second crop in 

 J uly and August ; and in the beginning of April for transplanting in J une 

 to produce a crop from September till the first frosts ; or later if the plants 

 ean be protected where they stand, or removed and planted in a shed or 



