134 
071 Green or Fodder Crops. 
thousand-headed kale, is almost inclined to give it the pre- 
ference. While fully admitting that kale will yield the heavier 
weight of crop, and beats the other in hardihood, the purple 
sprouting variety of broccoli Avhich he adopts affords diet of 
which sheep are particularly fond, and a great deal of money 
may sometimes be made of it in early spring for marketing, after 
which the stalks shoot out again, and yield a considerable 
amount of food for the flock. 
The behaviour of one particular crop which was drilled April 
1880, deserves to be chronicled. When about a year old, in 
April 1881, the marketmen were allowed to pick what they 
liked for 20/. per acre. After they had finished, the stalks 
sprouted out so abundantly again that it was resolved to save 
this second growth for seed, which was at that time worth 
95. a pound. In August a very fine crop of seed was taken, 
which realised about 4 sacks per acre ; but the under stalks 
commenced shooting out again, and scarcely a month after the 
seed-crop had been taken there was a capital aftergrowth ready 
for feeding, and quite equal in quantity of keep to the generality 
of second-growth rape-crops. 
This variety of broccoli attains to the height of from 2 to 
3 feet ; and as it spreads abroad considerably, the plants 
require to be set at about 36 inches distant one from another. 
The sprouts are often of great value for culinary purposes in 
spring, and French cooks are accustomed to dress them in a 
variety of different ways, from which circumstance sprouting 
broccoli first acquired horticultural fame. There would pro- 
bably be a good demand for the first sproutings on an extensive 
scale in most springs, if the plant were cultivated on the farm 
more generally, which is a point worthy of being borne in 
remembrance. The seed is usually very dear, for which reason 
the system of raising the plants in nursery-beds and setting 
them subsequently into the land intended to produce the crop, 
is less costly than drilling the seed direct into the latter, as 
turnip-seed is drilled. Mr. Russell drills seed into a small 
portion of the land which he intends to crop, and transplants its 
surplus stock into the remainder, or sows the seed between the 
rows of peas and beans, and subsequently takes surplus plants 
thence for setting out. 
Mr. Shirley Hibberd, treating of broccoli in a work entitled 
' Profitable Gardening,' which has run through ten editions, 
says : " The old sprouting kind is very hardy, of strong 
growth, and is a first-rate sort for the kitchen-garden to supply 
nice purple sprouts all the winter." lie recommends cottagers 
and gardeners to make tliree sowings, from the middle of April 
to the middle of June, adding: "It should have plenty of 
