October 21, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
815 
VEGETABLES ALL ™L Y “Lr UND - 
Broccoli.— An amateur asked me recently to 
tell him what the difference was between a 
Broccoli and a Cauliflower. I told him that 
there was not any appreciable difference as 
regards the growth of the plants and the forma¬ 
tion of the heads, or flowers. The essential 
difference was the hardiness of the Broccoli as 
compared with the Cauliflower, the latter 
being a summer and autumn vegetable, and the 
A GOOD BROCCOLI PLANT. 
former a winter and spring one. Inexperienced 
amateurs often neglect the work of raising the 
crop of Broccoli plants simply because they 
think that, as the plants “turn in” in winter, 
no time is lost if the seedlings are up at the 
end of summer. This is a great error. 
The Soil and. Situation. —An open position 
is better than one which is partially sheltered, 
as the plants must be grown hardily to with¬ 
stand a severe winter, "and we never know 
beforehand how severe the weather will be. 
Broccoli plants will grow and flourish in a 
heavy, clayey soil, and make luxuriant growth 
in a light, rich loam, but the latter kind of 
plants do not endure frost as well as those 
possessing harder stems. The plants generally 
collapse through the stems being frozen just 
below the bottom leaves. 
Raising a Stock of Plants.— Sow seeds on 
two dates, namely : first, for the northern 
counties, on March 20th and April 1st, and 
for the southern counties on April 1st and 
again on April 15th. Both early and late sorts 
may be sown at the same time. 
The position of the seed bed should also be 
an open one, as it is not possible to grow the 
plants too hardily even from their infancy. 
Deeply dig the ground and enrich it with some 
well-decayed manure if it is in poor condition, 
otherwise do not put in manure 
Leave the surface soil rather lumpy, that is, 
do not press it down with the back of a spade 
or roll it, but use the rake only to level. Cover 
the seeds jin. deep. 
I prefer to sow the seeds broadcast thinly, to 
hand-weed early, and to transplant while the 
seedlings are small to a nursery bed. Allow a 
space of 3 in. between the plants in the nursery 
border. Water when necessary. 
The Ground for the Final Planting.— It 
is not necessary to retain special ground for 
this crop. A previous one of Peas, Dwarf and 
Broad Beans, or of all of these, may be taken 
off ground, and then the latter will be in good 
condition for a Broccoli crop. 
The preparation of the ground need not be 
an elaborate one. Simply clear away the 
haulms of Peas or Beans, stakes or weeds, hoe 
the surface thoroughly, scatter sufficient soot 
on the ground to just darken the surface, and 
then fork in all 3 in. deep. 
Planting. — Commence to do this the 
moment the other crops are cleared off and the 
ground is ready. This work will be done dur¬ 
ing June, July and the early part of August. 
Either a dibber or a trowel may be used, but I 
recommend a trowel, as the roots of transplanted 
plants may be spread out better. Put a garden 
fork under the plants, too, to raise them. Plant 
in rows 2 ft. apart and 2(3 in. from plant to 
plant in the rows. 
Winter Treatment.— The main points to 
observe during this season are the keeping of 
the ground clean and free from decayed basal 
leaves, to earth up the stems in due course, and 
to turn batches of plants towards the north if 
the flowers are developing fast and frosts are 
frequent. Do this by taking out a. spadeful of 
soil near the roots on the north side, bending 
A WEAKLY PLANT, DRAYVN DP THROUGH 
OVERCROWDING 
down the plant to the north f and putting the 
soil on the top of the partially bared stem and 
roots to keep the plant in position. 
Insect Pests and Diseases. — The first 
trouble comes from the fly which eats away the 
young leaves of seedlings. Very fine ashes or 
dry road dust scattered on the leaves early in 
the morning while they are moist with dew 
will render the leaves distasteful to the insects. 
Later, caterpillars become troublesome and 
quickly ruin the plants if left to their own free 
will. 'Directly odd insects are found on the 
leaves examine every plant and hand-pick all 
caterpillars found ; especially look for them in 
the centre of the plant. 
If the pest is too plentiful for hand-picking to 
be efficacious, scatter dry lime on the leaves and 
immediately vigorously rake the soil underneath 
with an iron-toothed rake. In this way the 
caterpillars will he destroyed wholesale. 
Clubbing of the Roots. —Most persons have 
plants which “ club ” ; it is a fungus, and forms 
lumps like knots, somewhat, on the roots, and 
all plants affected badly fail to mature good 
heads. Deficient root action may be ascertained 
by observing the behaviour of the plants. 
“ Clubbing ” causes the leaves to turn to a blue 
colour and to droop much when the sun shines 
upon them. There is only a partial cure for 
plants well advanced in growth, that is, to firmly 
tread down the soil around the roots and then 
draw up soil to the stems ; new roots will grow 
and so help the crippled plants to produce 
heads 
Prevention is better than cure in this as in 
other cases. Where “clubbing 'is likely to 
occur, procure some gas lime, and put on one 
and a half bushels per square rod of ground, 
and also half a bushel of agricultural salt. Dig 
in this mixture quite ten weeks before it is 
necessary to plant the ground. W hite gruhs 
which also attack the roots are destroyed in 
this way too. 
Varieties _For convenience I will divide 
the sorts into divisions. 
First Division: Autumn.—Penzance Marly 
White, Veitch’s Self-protecting. 
Second Division : Winter.—Snow’s V inter 
White, St. Hilary, Backhouse’s Winter \\ hite, 
Adams’ Early White. 
Third Division : Spring.—Knight’s Protect¬ 
ing/ Leamington, Purple and White Sprouting, 
Late Queen, Ledshaw’s Latest of All, Methven s 
June. 
June. 
Lifting and Storing Beetroots. 
Frost is most injurious to Beetroots, there¬ 
fore they should be dug up before the arrival 
of severe weather, that is not later than the end 
of October. Boots of this vegetable are very 
tender, and great care must be taken in digging 
them up, for should even some of the smaller 
root fibres be broken they will bleed badly and 
loose a certain amount of colour and flavour. 
Before lifting the roots it is advisable to loosen 
the ground about the roots, and the fork or 
spade must be inserted in an almost perpen¬ 
dicular position, as shown in the little sketch 
given herewith, as deeply as possible, and 
sufficiently far away from the root to avoid 
injury by the spade coming in contact with it. 
After lifting, the foliage should be removed, 
HOW TO DIG BEETROOT. 
leaving about two inches on the root. The 
leaves must not be cut away with a knife, but 
be screwed or twisted off. The roots may 
either be stored in a shed or clamped out of 
doors in a conical heap in a dry situation. 
Cover the heap with a layer of clean straw and 
six inches of earth. This will exclude frost 
and the shape of the clamp will throw off the 
water. Before cooking the roots they should 
be well wrashed, but not peeled or scraped or 
in any way bruised, as this would allow much of 
the saccharine matter to escape during boiling. 
Ortus. 
