82 
Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming, 
best sorts are the Hardy White, Snow's Winter White, Adams's 
Early, Grange's Early White, Early Penzance, and Leamington. 
A few acres of cauliflowers and broccoli might be most 
advantageously grown upon farms having good land, and within 
reasonable distance of a town or of a railway-station, as they 
generally are most saleable commodities. They may be tried 
at first in a small way, and their cultivation could be extended 
if it was found that the surroundings were suitable and that they 
were profitable. 
Brussels-sprouts — Chou de Bruxelles — are exceedingly 
good greens to grow for winter use, and have a sweet flavour 
after winter frosts. The habit of this plant is to produce many 
sprouts or tiny cabbages upon a long stalk ; successions of these 
follow on the same plant throughout the winter and the spring ; 
when the summer comes they go to seed. They are remarkably 
hardy and bear the coldest winters. No farm garden, nor any 
other garden, should be without these. They may be cultivated 
with advantage by market-garden farmers, and are largely 
grown in market-gardens near London. The plants are picked 
out in April in rows 22 inches apart and 18 inches from plant 
to plant. It is said that the English-grown seed is not to be 
relied on, and that the only neighbourhood where the seed is to 
be depended on is Brussels. 
Lettuces may be deemed as hardly being vegetables for 
growth upon a large scale ; but this crop sometimes makes a deal 
of money, without being very expensive to cultivate, and if vege- 
table-growing is seriously undertaken, no kind should be beneath 
consideration. They may be specially grown in the garden of 
the farm, in beds in the warm corners of many old farmhouses, 
or protected by hand-glasses ; for English lettuces, fresh and 
firm, make long prices in the early spring-time, in spite of the 
competition of the French market-gardens. The great object is 
to get lettuces very early in the spring, and for this, of course, the 
plants have to stand the ordeal of the winter. Lettuces require 
a fairly good soil. Cos lettuces, or the crisp, juicy varieties, 
with erect leaves, which the English prefer, do best upon loam, 
or loamy clay-land, or even upon well-farmed, stiff clay. Cabbage 
lettuces, or those more resembling cabbages in shape, of which 
the best sorts are the Dutch, Asiatic, Hammersmith, Imperial 
Ice, which never bolts or runs to seed, will thrive upon sandy 
or chalky soils, if properly cultivated and well manured. The 
best sorts to stand the winter are the Bath Cos, Hammersmith, 
Silician, or Paris Cos. The seed should be sown about the 
first week in August broadcast, upon a well-prepared bed. 
About half a pound of seed is sufficient to furnish plants enough 
for an acre. Unless the winter is very severe, these will be 
