ON THE CULTIVATION OP EARLY CAULIFLOWERS. 
233 
in a tepid state, and in fine weather the lights may he altogether withdrawn in the 
day-time, and although replaced for the sake of ensuring safety from sharp night- frosts, 
the frame must then also be well aired, as mischief may be done in the way of etiolation, 
even in a single night ; but as the seedlings have shortly to be transferred into pots, light 
rains will now do good, rather than inflict injury upon them ; care must be taken, 
however, that the seed-bed does not become drenched or saturated with moisture; 
for, notwithstanding that the plants are now healthy and robust, overmuch wet will soon 
induce a “ sickly hue ” amongst the weaker ones, and denude the stoutest of them of their 
best leaves. 
If it should be considered that much unnecessary “ trouble ” is thus entailed by sowing 
Cauliflowers on the first of October, or thereabouts, instead of committing the seed to the 
ground in the ordinary manner about the middle of August, we can only observe that we 
have been thus diffuse on the seminal management and rearing of the young plants, because 
all the “ difficulty ” that happens (and if difficult, it is only so by comparison,) is incurred in 
the treatment of the seed-bed ; for, unless that be sharply looked after as adverted to above, 
in a dreary October or November, should such occur, we must be prepared to “ bid good- 
bye ” to our stock of hand-light Cauliflowers, an occurrence by no means unusual in a “ bad 
season ” under the methods ordinarily in practice. 
On the other hand, once safe from the bed on which they have been reared, their 
cultivation is secure, and, as before observed, practical experience has convinced us of the 
superior advantages which ultimately occur from this, compared with the usual methods 
adopted for obtaining the earliest Cauliflowers. 
On reference to my kitchen-garden diary, I find the following entry, “ November 25th, 
1847. Potting Cauliflowers sown on very slight bottom heat, on the 2nd October.” From 
which it will be perceptible that in seven or eight weeks from the time of sowing, the young 
Cauliflowers will be fit for potting. 
Any light, rich, free soil will suffice for the first potting, and small sixty-size pots are 
the best for use ; the stoutest plants must be selected, and care taken to preserve all the 
roots in lifting them from the seed-bed ; each must have a potsherd for drainage, and they 
must be potted tolerably firm, receiving a warm watering when potted, and be immediately 
plunged to the pot-rims in exhausted cucumber and melon pits or frames, of which there 
are, at this season of the year, generally plenty unoccupied. 
A slight bottom heat may be generated, the plants plunged in light, dry soil, pretty 
near to the glass, &c., as directed for the preparation of the seed-bed, and kept rather close 
for a day or two until the roots strike into the new soil, when abundance of air must be 
given night and day, although, at such an uncertain season, the safest course to take is 
always to replace the lights and elevate them for the ingress of air at night. 
Henceforth, the plants must experience no avoidable check ; occasional waterings of 
well-diluted liquid-manure, in a tepid state, will invigorate their growth, and frequent 
dredgings of a mixture of soot, lime, wood-ashes, and char-dust, in about equal quantities, 
and in a finely pulverised state, will not only shield them from the destructive attacks of 
snails, &c., but will stimulate them as well. 
Slugs are so cravingly fond of young Cauliflowers, that the utmost vigilance is often- 
times requisite to exterminate them, and should the dredgings they receive fail to preserve 
them, traps, in the shape of carrot and turnip or potato slices, must be employed to decoy 
them from their favourite pursuit of generally feasting on whatever is most valuable. 
From the genial bottom-heat they are plunged in, and the other encouragements they 
receive, the plants will freely root, and in ten days, or at most a fortnight from the time of 
potting, be in readiness for a shift into pots as liberally large as can be spared, and pit or 
frame accommodation can be found for them to be re-plunged in. Forty-eight sized pots are 
the least that should be employed, or the plants will have become pot-bound ere the time 
arrives for planting them out beneath the hand-lights, and thereby receive a check at the 
precise period when it is indispensable for them to advance. 
Bearing in mind the number of hand-glasses likely to be wanted, and that four plants 
for each glass will be required, no more than the usual number allowed for casualties, in 
VOL. i. — NO. VIII. H H 
