42 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
main superior crops next summer. A secondary sowing in February or 
March, for succession, and late inferior crops the same year in summer and 
autumn. A final sowing, near the close of May, for ordinary c ops, to yield 
fruit the following autumn and winter. The seedlings, protected with glass 
frames, generally grow too gross in the stems, which become partly black¬ 
ened, and the plants, being thus unhealthy, are not fit for planting out. 
Late-raised seedlings, which spend the winter in the open border, uniformly 
become the large and finest table cauliflowers during the summer, though 
:hey certainly do not come in quite so early. Cauliflower plants, it is pro¬ 
vable, are often killed with too much attention. Seedlings raised late in 
autumn seem to be very tenacious of life. 57 — Caled. Hort. Mem. iii, 192. 4i A 
method of producing cauliflowers pretty early, and with great certainty, is 
this:—The plants are set in small pots in the winter season, and kept in any 
convenient part of the floor of a vinery or other glazed house. In the be¬ 
ginning of March they are taken out of the pots with the ball of earth at¬ 
tached, and planted in the open ground. If they be here protected against 
severe frosts with bell-glass covers, they come into head in the course ot 
April, if the weather prove favorable.’ 7 — Neill, in Edin. Encyc. 
Drummond, of the Cork botanic garden, protects cauliflower plants during 
winter by planting them in excavations made in the common soil of the 
garden, and covered with frames thatched with long, straight wheat straw. 
He uncovers constantly in mild weather, whether nights or days.— Hort . 
Trans, v, 369. v 
For after-culture, preservation through winter, saving seed, &c., proceed 
as with the common white cabbage. 
Use. — u Among the succulent plants produced in our climate, this doubt¬ 
less is one of the most nourishing, and likewise the best adapted to tendei 
organs of digestion, especially in valetudinarians and invalids; such persons 
however, ought to eat it with the addition of some aromatic spice, such as 
pounded cardamoma, or caraway, or a small proportion of bread. To make 
the cauliflower blanch handsomely, the gardeners tie over the heads of the 
plant. 
“ To prepare cauliflowers. —Let the cauliflowers first be parboiled; next 
Ihey must be immersed in cold, hard water for some time, till they be 
nearly wanted for the table; thus, on being boiled for a few minutes, they 
will become more firm and crisp than if cooked in the usual manner.”— 
Dom. Encyc. 
Neill (in Edinburgh Encyc.) observes, “ These heads or flowers being 
boiled, generally wrapped in a clean linen cloth, are served up as a mos* 
delicate vegetable dish. Cauliflower is a particular favorite in this country. 
; Of all the flowers in the garden,’ Dr. Johnson used to say, ‘ I like the cauli 
flower.’ For the early supply of the London market, very «reat quantities* 
of cauliflower are fostered under hand-glasses during winter and *Le fir* 
