888 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— August 2(1, 1856. 
I but, as a general rule, it is advisable to take care that all 
i the early-flowering plants are accommodated with the best 
| places in the house, that each plant may receive something 
like the proper treatment without interfering with the well- 
1 being of its neighbour, as much room for each plant as can 
be given, and that every plant, pot, &c., is perfectly clean 
| before it is taken to the house. 
The stock of bedding out plants for next season that are 
well established should now be arranged and placed in 
their winter quarters, with everything in readiness to afford 
protection. 
It is almost unnecessary to direct attention to the gather¬ 
ing of Apples and Pears, as whoever is so fortunate as to 
have any fruit this season will watch them and gather them 
I with care. If there are any vacancies on the walls, and 
f fruit-trees to be planted, it will be time to begin to make 
preparations by draining the bottom, as without a porous 
bottom no good results can be expected to follow, and filling 
the holes with fresh loam, or by removing a considerable 
portion of the old soil and supplying its place with now. 
If a seeding weed is now to be seen it is a sure sign of 
great neglect, as no season, for many years, has been so 
favourable for their extermination. A general clearance 
should have been made; and as a sign of the times and the 
necessity of destroying weeds, a circular, lately addressed 
to the county surveyors from the Agricultural Statistics 
Office, Dublin, is brought under the notice of the directors 
of railways, who are requested to have all weeds immediately 
removed which may be found growing on the sides, embank¬ 
ments, cuttings, and fences of railways, as the shedding of 
the seeds of thistles, docks, ragweed, and other noxious 
plants, which are fast approaching to maturity, must cause 
great injury to the occupiers of land adjoining those rail¬ 
ways where these plants are not removed. What is so 
generally requested in that circular should be more par¬ 
ticularly observed, that the slovenly holder of an allotment, 
who allows his seed-beds or boundary fence of weeds to 
scatter such enemies amongst his neighbours should be 
forthwith removed, and a careful supervision established to 
keep down weeds.— William Keane. 
CAULIFLOWER AND OTHER WINTER- 
STANDING CROPS. 
Although a never-ceasing care for the seasons that 
are to come always forms a prominent part of the duties 
of the anxious cultivator, yet there is a time wherein 
care for the present one is equally important. That time, 
however, is about past for the present season, and a due 
regard for the future, with all the necessary preparations 
that way, must now form the principal business of the 
day. The sowing of seeds and planting out of crops 
may he all regarded as preparations for another year. 
This, however, must be done, and, what is of more im¬ 
portance, certain works, necessary at this time, must be 
done at least within one week of the specified time, 
otherwise the result is seldom satisfactory. Cauliflower 
and Cabbage must not be sown sooner than a certain 
time, otherwise they do not succeed, and if later they are 
equally unfortunate, though in another way. A more 
strict adherence to well-established customs is more 
j necessary at this time than at any other, for although 
there may bo very little difference between a crop of 
! Onions sown at the end of January, and one sowu two 
months afterwards, such is not the case with Cauliflower 
to stand the winter, and as that article is one which it is 
necessary to have in perfection at the proper time, this 
article cannot well begin with a more important crop 
than this. 
Cauliflower. —The sort of half-poetic, half-floral name 
by which this plant is designated, together with its 
general utility, has rendered it a greater favourite than 
most common garden productions, and with its allied 
brethren, the 13 rocoli family, it is expected that a moderate¬ 
sized garden will furnish a dish of one or the other every 
day in the year. This I have often done; but it is need¬ 
less here to say that the Cauliflower is the favourite ; not 
but that a good white or cream Brocoli in the spring is 
equally useful and good ; still, there is an anxious desire 
to tasto the young growth of the current year, and the 
first Cauliflower at table is hailed with a pleasure second 
only to that with which Leas and Potatoes aro ushered 
in for tho first time that season. A failure, therefore, in 
Cauliflowers is a thing much to be deplored, and it is not 
easy to remedy auy error that may be mado at the 
sowing time, for, like most plants of the Cabbageworts 
it inherits the propensity, or rather, disposition, they all 
have to run to seed in early spring, when that propensity 
is not restrained by judicious management in the careful 
selection of plants for saving seed from; but oven this 
will not prevent the plant prematurely running into 
flower-stems, whon sown a few days too soon the pre¬ 
ceding autumn. The precise time is, therefore, an im¬ 
portant one for the unpractised hand to know, and though 
the practice of lato years has been in many things to 
hasten the operations of soveral of tho various works of 
cultivation, tho sowing of Cauliflower and some other 
things has, perhaps, been retarded in like manner, wheu 
experience has proved it to be improper to do so too soon; 
besides which thero are conditions in the growth of this 
plant which it is also advisable to adhere to. 
In somo former chapters of this work it has been 
pointed out that a grossly vigorous growth is not the one 
best calculated to stand a hard winter ; it is, therefore, 
good practice to plant such crops as have to stand the 
winter only on a certain place on poor, light soil, so that 
tho plant might consolidate its growth rather than ex¬ 
pand it; and in no instance is this more necessary than 
in Cauliflowers, whose half-succulent, half-delicate condi¬ 
tion renders them fit objects for a severe winter to act 
fatally upon when some restriction on their growth has 
not been made. Nevertheless, for other reasons, it is 
advisable to hasten their early growth by all available 
means for a certain time. With that object in view, it 
! is therefore prudent to sow the seed on the best ground 
the garden affords, and to give itevery chance of succeed¬ 
ing well, by either shading, watering, or covering, as 
the case may be, until the plants aro up. This is on the 
supposition that tho sowing day has been put off till the 
last moment. Now, to secure this, it is best either to sow 
under glass, or on the stale, dry ground ou a south border, 
or in some other favoured spot, and the time to do it 
is about the first week in September. Some have even 
had good success by dolaying the sowing until the 1st 
of October, but then the work was all done in hotbeds, 
and under circumstances expensive and troublesome ; 
but by sowing on the 1st of September a well-prepared 
bed with good soed, and, if bright, sunny weather, 
shading a little afterwards, a useful result may be ex¬ 
pected without much trouble. If the situation be a 
very late one, a few days sooner may be of advantage ; 
but in all cases the fact must be borne in mind that it 
is small plants generally that stand the winter best, and 
! not large, coarse ones; therefore it is only to attain a 
I good germination of the seed, and good, early growth ; 
thus it is advisable to sow on rich ground. Afterwards, 
wheu the plants attain any size, it will be prudent to 
plant them out on poorer soil, in order that a stilf, hardy 
iiabit may be attained before winter sets in, instead of a 
gross, fast-growing one. The obvious purpose iii this 
will he easily seen, as the plants are expected not to 
remain longer than the winter months on their scanty 
pasturage, hut, at the return of fine weather, to be 
planted out where they can secure greater abundance. 
Summing up the above remarks, the cultivator will see 
that the 1st of September is the time recommeudod for 
sowing the principal crop oT Cauliflower to stand the 
winter (a few may be sowu earlier); and that, when tho 
plants are fit to plant out, a frame or bed, composed of 
not too rich a soil, where some protection can be secured, 
