324 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Jan. 24th, 1885. 
first of March till the end of May, we thus get six 
months of Broccoli season, and with an amplestock. 
There are, in addition, white and purple sprouting 
kinds, and the delicious old Purple Cape for 
variety. But Cauliflowers proper form the theme 
of this short article, and though the consuming 
public like to class all the family as Cauliflowers, 
we must not make that error because it would be 
very unprofessional. It is a good time to make 
a first sowing of Snowball, early forcing, or other 
identical kinds. Seed sown in a frame over a very 
little warmth, or in a house in shallow pans, will 
soon germinate; then the young plants, dibbled 
out into a frame, will in a few weeks be strong 
enough to transplant with balls of earth on to a 
warm border, and thus ensure a good supply 
through the month of June. But in the month 
of August a sowing of the Early London, made 
in a frame, will give strong plants to go out 
under handlights in October. These would give 
fine heads for cutting in May. Afresh sowing of 
one of the early kinds made in March will give 
a July cutting, and a later one in April will give 
a good August cutting. By that time the Autumn 
Giant Cauliflower, from seed sown in the previous 
March in the open ground, are turning in, and 
then a right merry supply is kept up easily until 
the Broceolis once more follow suit. We are so 
well favoured with kinds, that it only needs 
proper foresight in sowing, and a fair season, to 
ensure an ample supply of this vegetable with 
Cauliflowers all the year round. 
Exhibition Peas. —It is notorious that all 
lovers of Peas prefer those of medium size to 
large ones when cooked, and, indeed, in the public 
market, where shelled Peas are an important 
saleable commodity, Peas of good colour and 
rather small are much more favoured than are 
large ones. These are considerations, however, 
which are quite put out of sight, or, at least, 
generally so, on the show table, where awards are 
chiefly made on the ground of size and fulness. 
We should like to see prizes offered for Peas of 
the best flavour, and think that kind of com¬ 
petition preferable to one for biggest pods only. 
Of all the new Peas put into cultivation during the 
past ten or twelve years, can any one excel Ne 
Plus Ultra in flavour and softness? The best 
new ones are those which give true marrow form, 
but those, as a rule, are not large podded ones. 
We should also very muchlike to see a competition 
for the best dish of shelled Peas, 2 lbs. in weight, 
and still farther for the best dish of the same 
cooked. It would be interesting to see how the 
big Peas stood in such cases. Then it would be 
interesting to know the weight of the shells 
which produced the 2 lbs. of Peas forming each 
dish, as some useful information might result. 
Should vegetable shows be promoted at South 
Kensington again next year, we hope Mr. Barron 
will bear the shelled Pea suggestion in mind, and 
have them judged by competent connoiseurs. We 
often have competitions with cooked Potatos, why 
not also with cooked Peas ? 
Eoyal Hobticultubal Society. —We are 
informed that Lord Aberdare will retire from 
the office of President of the Society at the 
annual general meeting to he held on February 
10th, and that the Council recommend the elec¬ 
tion of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., in his 
place. The other two vacancies on the Council 
are caused by the retirement of Viscount 
Enfield and the death of Mr. J. H. Mangles. 
The fellows recommended to fill these vacancies 
are the Hon. and Bev. J. T. Boscawen, Colonel 
B. Trevor Clarke, and W. T. Thiselton Dyer, 
Esq., F.B.S. 
(Scuftmhtg Ittisteltam 
At the meeting of the Manchester Horticultural 
Improvement Society, to be held on Thursday evening 
next, Mr. E. Griffiths Hughes (the inventor of Fir-tree 
oil) will read a paper on “ Insecticides.” 
We deeply regret to hear of the death on Wed¬ 
nesday, at Kew, of Ellen, second wife of Mr. Shirley 
Hibberd, Editor of The Gardener's Magazine. Mr. 
Hibberd, whose marriage took place about fifteen 
months ago, has the warmest sympathies of his many 
friends. 
We also regret to announce the death on Sunday 
last, of Mr. Robert T. Yeitch, of Exeter, aged sixty- 
two years. Mr. Yeitch, who had long carried on an 
extensive nursery and landscape gardening business 
at Exeter, was a brother of the late Mr. James Yeitch, 
of Chelsea, and last surviving son of Mr. James 
Veitch, sen., of Exeter. 
Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, sent to the 
annual meeting of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society, held on Monday, some fine specimens of 
Cyclamen persicum, well grown and flowered. They 
were much admired. 
Messrs. John Laing & Co. have another plant in 
bloom of the fine Odontoglossum Rossii majus, of 
the “ rubescens ” type, noticed by us at p. 284. It is 
quite as pretty as the first one, and came out of the 
same batch of imported plants. 
On the occasion of the marriage of Mr. H. Nicoll 
with Miss Palmer, each of the bridesmaids carried a 
floral horse shoe, composed of the flowers of Azalea 
Mollis, yellow Marguerites, and Ivy leaves, suspended 
from the arm by a loop of cream-coloured satin. 
The novel idea was well carried out by Captain 
Raikes, of Baker Street, who also supplied the bride’s 
lovely bouquet. 
The annual dinner of the Horticultural Club will 
take place on February 10th, under the presidency of 
Mr. John Lee. 
Mr. Harry J. Yeitch has received a Royal Warrant 
appointing him (as representing the firm of James 
Veitch & Sons), Nurseryman and Florist to Her 
Majesty. Mr. Veitch will also, by Her Majesty’s 
command, present the Bridal Bouquet to H.R.H. the 
Princess Beatrice, on the occasion of her marriage 
with Prince Henry of Battenberg. 
Mr. Peter Cltfee, who was for many years 
gardener at Tatton Park, Cheshire, and who only 
retired last autumn, on being pensioned by Lord 
Egerton, died at Rnutsford, on the 14th inst., aged 
sixty-seven years. 
Mr. W. Cullingford, has offered the National 
Chrysanthemum Society the handsome sum of ten 
guineas, to be awarded as prizes for late flowering 
Chrysanthemums, to be shown about the middle of 
January. 
Messrs. James Dickson & Sons, 32, South Hanover 
Street, Edinburgh, have on exhibition a Swede 
Turnip of the extraordinary weight of 20 lbs. 10 ozs., 
which was grown from seed supplied by the firm, on a 
farm at Ormiston. 
The annual dinner of the Wimbledon and District 
Horticultural Society, took place on Monday evening 
last. The Society has been in existence twelve years, 
and it is gratifying to know that it is in a flourishing 
condition. 
The Earl of Abingdon has been elected President 
of the Royal Oxfordshire Horticultural Society, in the 
room of his late father. 
The Ealing, Acton, and Hanwell Horticultural 
Society, which this year celebrates its majority, having 
been established in 1864, will hold its annual exhi¬ 
bition in the grounds of Gunnersbury Park, Acton. 
Mr. J. Downer, late Fruit Foreman at Possingworth, 
Sussex, has been engaged as gardener to Sir G. R. 
Prescott, Bart., Isenhurst, in the same county. 
The annual meeting of the Leeds Professional 
Gardeners’ Friendly Society was held on Monday, 
and we learn from the eighteenth annual report that 
the Society’s income for the pastyearwas£14915i’.3£d., 
and its expenditure £117 13s. lid., leaving a balance 
of £32 Is. 4Jd., which, added to the savings of the 
seventeen previous years of £675 6s. 5 \d, makes the 
total amount placed to the Society’s credit £707 7s. lOd. 
The Society now numbers 19 honorary and 113 
ordinary members. 
SNOW’S WINTER WHITE 
BROCCOLI. 
Having grown this useful kind for many years, my 
experience leads me to state that I agree with your 
correspondent, Mr. Knight (p. 293), as regards its 
being “ an old and well tried sort,” the only difficulty 
experienced with it being to obtain the seed true to 
name. Over thirty years ago I strongly recommended 
Snow’s Broccoli in the pages of The Gardener's 
Chronicle. At that time my seed was obtained direct 
from the raiser and could be relied upon, but many 
whom I knew purchased what they were led to believe 
was a true stock, but which turned out to be some other 
kind that had been substituted. This, of course, led 
to much annoyance and disappointment in not being 
able to supply the employer’s table at a time when it 
would have been most acceptable, and really good 
Broccoli in the middle of winter was a somewhat rare 
vegetable at the period to which I allude. 
Gardeners fifty years ago had to depend very much 
upon the Cape varieties, which are of a somewhat 
hardy constitution, but little grown now, being super¬ 
seded by those of superior quality that have been 
subsequently introduced. I may state with reference 
to the hardiness of any of the Broccoli tribe that a 
gardener’s success, in being able to supply the table at 
all seasons, very much depends upon circumstances. 
He may or may not be able to do so, as there is 
no Broccoli that I am acquainted with that will 
survive our more rigorous winters. Happily these 
are now exceptions, as we have not of late years 
experienced such hard winters as some of us well 
remember. 
It has been the practice of many gardeners for years 
to take up then - plants before winter sets in, and to 
lay them in again regularly, leaving the tops of the 
plants just above the surface of the ground. Many 
crops have been saved in this way, especially when 
the weather has been very severe and the plants have 
had some slight protection. I have known seasons 
when the crops have been nearly if not entirely 
destroyed. It was my practice to take up my plants 
of Snow’s Winter White before frost set in and bed 
them in cold pits, where they could be readilyprotected 
if necessary, or be fully exposed should protection 
not be required. I have known many acres of the 
Walcheren Broccoli completely destroyed by a severe 
frost in the autumn. In these days of extensive 
cultivation protection is out of the question, and it is 
only on well drained dry soils that the plants have any 
chance of escape. I believe that for the sake of a tidy 
appearance much mischief is done by the injudicious 
removal of the leaves from the stems of the plants; 
those only should be removed which drop from the 
plant (as does a ripe Pear from the tree), it being bad 
practice to mutilate the plants by tearing off the leaves 
indiscriminately, by which wounds are often made but 
not so readily healed. Consequently plant life, as 
well as animal life,'is thus placed in jeopardy. 
Market gardening has made a very great advance 
during the last half century, as well as that of private 
or professional gardening. And as the products of 
the former are of such excellent quality, it is abso¬ 
lutely necessary that the latter should endeavour to 
keep pace with the times in which he lives, as employ¬ 
ers have every opportunity now of comparing notes 
as to the relative quality of market and home-grown 
produce. Thus it becomes essential to make careful 
selections as regards the variety or sorts most worthy 
of cultivation. The gardener has, for the most part, 
to depend upon the seed-grower and the seedsman 
with whom he deals, and thirty years or more ago it 
was often found that little confidence could be placed 
in either; but such is not the case now. I have 
myself had a number of sorts from one packet of seed, 
owing, of course, to the attempt to save too many 
kinds of “Brassica*” growing in close proximity in 
one season. With new kinds, however, as a rule, 
special care is taken to keep the stock true. I know 
one of the oldest and largest growers for Covent 
Garden Market who saved a well selected stock of 
“ Walcheren” from time to time for many years, but 
of late degeneration seems to have set in, for the 
crops have certainly not been so satisfactory as in 
former years. The consequence of this is that many 
acres of the new Italian sorts of more recent intro¬ 
duction have been grown with more success, and of 
late years the area under Broccoli cultivation has been 
