November 17. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
117 
on soils overcharged with it as on sound loamy soils, 
it seems probable to me, that this superabundance of 
humus might be corrected by the application of lime; 
and if I could obtain lime with the facility some persons 
can, I should certainly try it liberally. However, until 
we can obtain a broader and more scientific view of the 
subject, let me advise our readers to persist in the 
maxims here laid down, unless they happen to have 
some superior mode. 
I will now return from the collateral branches to the 
main trunk of my subject, which is to shew how one 
portion or other of the families of Cauliflowers and 
Brocolis can be had in use nearly all the year ; and I 
plainly foresee, that to say my whole say on this subject, 
I must finish it in another paper. 
To enumerate the kinds in vogue would be an almost 
endless, and, I may add, a needless, task. It will be 
better to throw them into broad sections, and I will first 
point to the Cauliflower race, of which we have but two 
essentially distinct, as far as I am aware, viz.: the term 
old London Cauliflower, and the Asiatic, which is, I fancy, 
synonymous with that called the Leyden Cauliflower ; and 
which, when true, used to be nearly a month later, and 
used for succession crops. Then, in Brocolis, there is 
the Walclierens, which are, probably, of the old Grange 
impregnated class, or hybrids partaking more or less of 
the Cauliflower character. 
The Capes are another and distinct class, of very 
precocious habit, and of much importance in a suc¬ 
cession, especially for small gardens, as they occupy 
less room than mauv others, and dodge in famously 
through the months of August, September, October, and 
November, and serve to stop a gap when Cauliflowers 
or White Autumn Brocolis are wanting ; but our fancy 
cooks will not use them whilst they can command nice 
white Cauliflowers. The old Capes of former days were 
but two distinct kinds— Purple and White ; the chief 
difference being in colour; and these, sown in the first 
week of June, might be obtained in nice head in half-a- 
score weeks afterwards. Now, however, there are many 
kinds of the Capes, if we may judge by our modern 
seedmen’s list, such as Adam's, Hammond’s, Dancer's 
&c.; but the real character of which, in the main, would 
not do for those eminent growers to cultivate whose 
names they bear. But of this matter, more before I 
close the subject. It appears that some of these modern 
Capes are hybrids, or cross-bred with our later kinds, 
for they have not the tendency to “ bolt, or run,” so 
much as the original Capes, to which, indeed, the latter 
were too liable, especially if impure in kind. 
As another distinct section, I may now name the 
Branching or Sprouting Brocolis, of which there are 
some two or three varieties, all purplish, and a very 
j useful class they are, possessing very distinct and peculiar 
i habits, one of which is, that besides a head, they continue 
to produce small, neat sprouts, or buds, each of which is 
a Brocoli head in minature, through November, Decem¬ 
ber, January, and February. What Brussels Sprouts 
are amongst the Cabbages, these are amongst the 
! Brocolis; they hold an equally important position, 
j Indeed, no small family should be without them, and no 
: large one will choose to dispense with them, if once they 
fairly scrape acquaintance with them. One of their 
chief features, to which I beg to direct special attention, 
is that they are of so excitable a character, as, with 
the least mildness of temperature, they continue to pro¬ 
duce buds or sprouts in the very depth of winter, when 
most other Brocolis are dormant; for as to the other 
j classes, all those which had not formed their heads by 
1 the end of October, or through the earlier part of Novern- 
j her, remain stationary until the first mild weather in 
1 the end of J anuary; requiring, in fact, a greater share 
! of warmth to stimulate them. Their flavour, too, is, 
i in my opinion, superior to most of the Brocolis; they 
appear to combine a slight amount of that peculiar 
flavour which is found in the Turnip-top, with the 
Brocoli flavour; perhaps about ten per cent, of the 
former. 
And now we come to the true spring Brocolis, which 
generally begin to come in about the first or second 
week in February, and continue until the middle of May, 
when they should be immediately succeeded by early 
Cauliflowers from hand-glasses. And thus it will be 
seen, that where it is desirable, where plenty of manure, 
labour, and genuine kinds can be got at, one or other of 
this numerous family may be had nearly, or quite, the 
whole year; and of what other vegetable but Cabbage 
can we say so much ? Thirty years since, there were 
not half-a-score late kinds cultivated; the Late Purple, 
the Brimstone, the Danish, the Late White, &c., were the 
chief grown. In those days we had no glowing fancy 
seed-envelopes to be opened, as our friend Beaton says, 
by kid-glove men ; and the superlative additions of prime, 
choice, very superior, splendid, exquisite, iC-c., did not show 
their face on the old brown wrappers. I cannot but think 
that it is now march of intellect with a vengeance, and 
I will engage, that even the addition of the above fine 
titles alone, and which are not half the modern vocabu¬ 
lary as applied to seeds, in all probability increase the 
profits of seedsmen a very many thousands in .the 
aggregate. What a farce is it, from a beautiful paper 
fit for a duchess to handle, to take seeds endorsed, 
“ splendid Walcheren Brocoli, very superb and when 
the cook calls out for a dish, to find the King of Spades 
disagreeably surprised, and standing aghast amongst his 
“ superbs,” at finding them a lot of rubbish, scarcely fit 
for cattle; and, indeed, no Walcheren at all. Here, then, 
one link in his chain has snapped, and he is called to 
book sharply. 
I must here confess that much of this is due to a 
perverseness on the part of the public, one portion of 
which is keener by half in the heart after some new 
thing, than after higher points of culture, and a full 
elucidation of the habits, characters, and qualities of 
proved good things. I may here state, that it has been 
pleasurable of late to see a desire to avoid these ex¬ 
tremes, and that some of our more respectable seeds¬ 
men have shown a strong wish to purge their lists. 
But as to late or spring Brocolis, we have now a 
most voluminous list, most of them showing more or 
less the features of some of the before-named types, 
with sometimes appearances of an acquaintance having 
been formed with the Cauliflower and its congeners. 
But the worst of it is, that if you were to select twelve 
sorts from each of the lists of as distinct as the names 
can indicate, from three different seedsmen’s catalogues, 
the probability is, that you would not have more than 
half-a-score distinct, or worth consideration, out of the 
whole thirty-six. In these facts there is nothing invi¬ 
diously entertained, for it is traceable, in the main, to 
too great a desire for novelty. 
With this late or spring Brocoli, then, ends my deli¬ 
neations of the classes which are placed in their order 
of succession; and in a succeeding paper, I will try to 
show how to handle them, so as to keep up a continual 
supply. R. Errington. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
November 1, 1853. 
The meetings of the Horticultural Sooiety are now 
held, for the winter, from two to three o clock in the 
afternoon, and the last up-train in the morning, past my 
door, is at ten o’clock; therefore, I must either go by 
this train, or swallow an early dinner, and be off without 
nuts or nut-crackers; and so by the early train I go 
to these meetings, which allows me time to look round 
