[irocroli  ; Brussels  Sprouts  ; Cahhages.  7 7 
to  the  season.  An  imperial  acre  will  hold  6,970  plants  at 
thirty  inches  apart  each  way.  And  as  a thousand  strong  plants 
ought  to  be  obtained  from  each  ounce  of  good  seed,  half  a 
pound  of  seed  is  sufficient  to  give  an  adequate  number  of  strong 
plants  for  an  acre  of  ground. 
In  order  to  obtain  a full  crop  of  Brussels  Sprouts  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  plants  be  grown  to  their  maximum 
size  before  November.  Any  growth  after  that  period  is  worth- 
less. The  crop  requires  and  deserves  generous  treatment  in  all 
respects  as  regards  food,  air,  and  light,  because  a large  amount 
of  vegetable  tissue  has  to  be  developed,  and  it  must  be  of  good 
quality  to  withstand  the  severity  of  our  winter  without  injui’y. 
Some  growers  sow  the  seed  where  the  plants  are  to  remain, 
and  thin  out  to  distances  of  twenty  or  twenty-four  inches  in 
the  rows  ; and  they  say  they  gain  by  so  doing. 
The  more  usual  method  is  to  sow  the  seed  in  February  or 
March  in  a sheltered  position,  or  under  glass;  to  prick  out  the 
plants  when  in  their  second  rough  leaf  in  April  or  May ; and 
to  plant  out  permanently  in  June  upon  well-manured  and  well- 
prepared  soil  in  rows  thirty  inches  apart,  the  plants  being  two 
feet  apart  in  the  rows.  I }>refer  this  method  of  culture  myself, 
and  have  this  way  produced  very  profitable  crops;  possibly 
under  some  local  conditions  the  former  method  may  answer 
best. 
Cabbages. — From  a market  gardener’s  point  of  view  the 
chief  value  of  Cabbage  is  as  an  early  crop  in  spring,  when, 
according  as  to  whether  the  previous  winter  has,  or  has  not, 
killed  a large  portion  of  the  vegetable  food  supj)ly,  it  may  be 
worth  from  20k  per  acre  to  an  almost  fabulous  amount. 
Seed,  for  a supply  of  nice  heads  of  Cabbage  at  the  end  of 
March  and  in  April,  should  be  sown  from  the  10th  to  the  14th 
of  the  previous  July.  And  in  order  that  there  may  be  no 
“ bolting  ” or  premature  flowering,  care  should  be  taken  that 
the  seed  be  sown  upon  thoroughly  moist  soil.  In  the  absence 
of  rain,  the  seed  bed  must  be  artificially  saturated  in  one  of 
two  ways,  either  by  applying  the  water  to  the  soil  previous  to 
drawing  the  drills  for  tbe  reception  of  the  seed,  or  after  the 
drills  have  been  drawn.  The  former  is  seldom  effective,  and 
often  causes  a large  percentage  of  the  plants  to  “ bolt,”  the 
flowers  being  formed  in  the  seedlings  during  that  period  of 
starvation  through  lack  of  water  ; the  latter  retains  the  water 
in  the  drills,  where  it  sinks  downwards  and  is  stored  for  future 
use,  and  gives  a constant  supply  of  moisture  to  the  seedling 
