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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  6  19')0 
Early  Cauliflowers. 
Since  the  introduction  of  the  small,  quick-hearting  forms,  of  which 
Dean’s  Snowball  is  the  type,  an-i,  in  my  practice,  Veitch’s  Extra  Early 
Forcing  the  most  reliable  variety,  there  has  been  less  need  to  keep  so 
many  autumn  raistd  plants  of  different  varieties  through  the  winter, 
as  it  is  possible  to  have  the  former  in  beautifully  close  and  white 
medium  sized  heads  at  the  end  of  May  or  early  in  June  by  sowing 
the  seed  in  pots  at  the  latter  part  of  January  or  the  beginning  of 
February.  Sowing  in  puts  means  growing  the  plants  in  gentle  heat, 
well  up  to  the  glass,  or  in  unobstructed  light,  ventilating  the  structure 
freely  on  all  favourable  occasions,  placing  singly  into  small  pots, 
hardening  and  planting  out  as  soon  after  the  middle  of  April  as  the  J 
weather  becomes  mild  and  showery,  in  a  warm,  sheltered  situation, 
such  as  a  south  border.  This  implies  trouble,  and  it  is  not  easy  to 
secure  sturdy  plants  where  there  are  Ptach  houses  and  vineries  in 
full  profit — that  is,  the  trees  or  Vines  fully  occupying  their  allotted 
space  on  roof  trellises,  even  when  there  are  several  structures  started 
in  succession.  Matters  are  different  where  light  and  airy  positions  can 
be  found  for  the  plants,  as  it  is  easy  to  transfer  them  from  one 
structure  to  another  according  to  requirements,  and  in  some  cases  t^  ey 
can  be  grown  from  first  to  last  under  glass,  shifiing  into  larger  pots  as 
required,  and  having  the  beau  ideal  of  a  Cauliflower  for  a  gentleman’s 
table  with  certainty  in  May.  In  some  establishments  the  earliest 
Caulifloweis  are  raised  from  seed  sown  early  in  the  year  in  gentle  heat, 
and  the  plants  grown  on  in  pots  tili  of  planting-out  size,  when  they 
are  planted  in  pots  on  rich  soil,  about  18  inches  from  the  glass,  and 
that  distance  apart. 
The  foregoing  matters  are  well  worth  knowing,  and  the  mode  of 
what  must  be  called  forcing  Cauliflowers  has  its  advocates,  for  the 
reason  that  they  find  it  quite  unnecessary  to  winter  plants  in  Irames 
of  other  varieties.  Of  the  value  of  early  Cauliflowers  I  am  well 
aware,  and  to  have  them  succeed  the  late  Broccoli  is  a  very  impcrtant 
consideration  in  well  appointed  establishments,  and  even  in  some  places 
the  small  close  white  heads  of  the  Cauliflower  must  be  had  as  early 
as  possible  for  the  need  of  the  connoisseur  of  this  delicious  vegetable, 
no  matter  how  plentiful  the  Broccoli.  Against  forcing  Cauliflowers  I 
have  nothing  to  submit,  but  after  many  years’  experience  I  find  it  just 
as  necessary  to  winter  a  good  stock  of  Cauliflower  plants  in  frames 
and  under  hand-lights  as  before  the  advent  of  Dean’s  Snowball  or 
its  selections,  and  even  as  practised  half  a  century  ago. 
With  hand-light  and  frame-wintered  plants  it  is  seldom  possible 
to  cut  heads  of  Caulifiow’ers  before  the  middle  of  June,  and  some¬ 
times  not  before  midsummer,  or  even  in  cold  seasons  and  late 
districts  before  July.  When  they  do  come  in  I  find  that  the  early 
forcing  varieties  are  nowhere  for  general  use  beside  the  old  stagers 
— Early  London  and  Walcheren.  True  stocks  of  these  two  varieties 
are  of  the  best  for  everyday  consumption  and  for  ma  keting. 
I  know  there  are  improied  forms  of  Cauliflow<  rs.  Dwarf  Erfurt 
Mammoth,  an  advance  on  Early  London  ;  Veitch’s  Pearl,  a  great 
improvement  on  Walcheren.  Veitch’s  Autqmn  Giant,  however,  is 
all  1  care  to  add  to  Early  London  and  Walcheren,  though  E  .rly 
Giant,  Eclipse,  and  King  of  Cauliflowers  are  excellent  varieties. 
Snowball  or  Veitch’s  Extra  Early  Forcing  may  be  relegated  to 
the  advocates  of  sowing  in  heat,  along  with  Pearl,  about  the 
njiddle  of  January,  to  avoid  the  necessity  for  the  autumn  sowing  ot 
Cauliflowers. 
Adhering  to  the  old-fashioned  plan  of  keeping  small  plants  through 
the  winter  the  time  has  now  arrived  for  sowing  the  seeds.  With 
Early  London  and  Walcheren  Veltch’s  Autumn  Giant  may  be  sown 
with  a  view  to  giving  an  admirable  succession.  I,  however,  do  not 
practise  sowing  this  variety  in  the  autumn,  for  there  was  such  a  large 
per-centage  of  “blind”  plants  from  the  procedure  as  to  preclude  the 
renetition.  Besides  the  merits  of  this  variety  come  out  best  in  the 
late  summer  and  autumn. 
In  the  Ni  rth  of  Engl  nd  the  seed  should  be  sown  about  the  20th  of 
August,  while  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  country  the  beginning  of 
September  is  more  suitable.  Sown  too  early  the  plants  are  liable  to 
“  bolt”  in  the  early  summer,  and  to  have  experience  of  such  calamity 
in  a  large  percentage  of  plants  is  better  imagined  than  described. 
Running  to  seed  instead  of  forming  heads  is  a  serious  disaster  in  early 
Cauliflowers,  therefore  too  early  sowing  is  not  advisable.  But  the  age 
of  the  seed  and  also  the  management  may  have  something  to  do  with 
the  “  bolting  ”  of  Cauliflower  plants.  Old  seeds  have  a  tendency 
to  early  seeding  in  the  plants — “to  bolting” — and  starved,  much 
checked  ones  Irom  new  seed  have  a  strong  inclination  to  “run”  to 
flower  and  seed,  and  thus  maintain  their  own  in  the  “struggle  for 
existence.” 
Select  a  sunny  and  not  too  sheltered  spot  for  sowing  the  seed,  the 
ground  being  ini  good  heart,  but  not  from  manuring  at  the  time,  that 
from  a  previous  crop  leaving  the  land  sufficiently  rich.  Let  it  be 
moderately  fiim,  scatter  the  seed  thinly,  alter  watering,  if  the  seed  V>ed 
be  dry,  and  cover  with  fine  soil,  which  also  must  be  inoist.  Where 
slugs  are  troublesome  dust  over  the  plants  occasionally  with  soot  and 
lime,  these  dressings  being  useful  against  “  fly  ”  and  “  1  lackleg.”^ 
The  fly  or  'I’urnip  flea  beetle  (Haltica  nemorum)  often  does  considerable 
harm  to  the  young  plants,  especially  in  droughty  periods,  and  when 
not  duly  attended  to  in  watering,  while  “  blackleg  ”  or  the  shrivelling 
of  the  stems  caused  by  the  damping  off  fungus  (Py  thium  De  Baryauum) 
is  induced  by  freshly  manuring,  thick  seeding,  and  wet  weather,  or 
keeping  the  seed  hed  too  moist  by  unnecessary  watering. — A.  G. 
(To  be  continued.) 
- - 
Shrewsbnpy  1900  ! 
The  show — the  great  show — at  Shrewsbury  lor  the  year  1900  is 
past.  It  has  been  well  and  fully  reported,  and,  I  think,  a  word  or  two 
should  be  said  not  only  on  the  clearness  and  comprehensiveness  of  the 
report  in  our  Journal,  but  on  this,  to  my  mind,  present  day  journalistic- 
feat,  as  showing  the  ability  of  the  reporter,  or  reporters,  in  the 
quickness  and  faithfulness  of  that  report,  the  enterprise  rf  the 
proprietor  and  editor,  the  celerity  shown  by  the  compositors  and 
printers,  and  the  promptitude  in  despatching  the  copies,  so  that  the 
report  of  the  show  of  Wednesday  was  read  in  the  secretaries’  tent  at 
Shrewsbury  on  Thursday  afternoon,  and  by  the  many  readers  of  the 
Journal  at  their  homes  who  have  a  midday  delivery  of  letters,  just,  or 
nearly  so,  twenty-four  hours  after  the  first  notes  were  made  wtien  the 
judges  had  finished  their  duties  at  midday  on  Wednesday.  This  is 
the  first  time  that  such  a  feat  has  been  accomplished  in  connection 
with  the  Journal,  and  it  speaks  volumes  for  its  prpprietor  and  editor, 
and  for  the  ability  of  the  staff  of  workers.  I  feel  that  all  readers  will 
agree  with  me  that  such  a  feat  should  not  go  unchronicled,  as  I  am  sure 
it  did  not  go  unrecognised. 
I  shall  say  nothing  here  as  to  the  show  of  1900  as  a  whole.  All 
that  has  been  said  in  previous  years  may  be  said  again  of  the  present 
year’s  show.  It  is  simply  unique,  and,  as  one  local  writer  in 
commenting  upon  it  almost  pathetically  laments  the  fact  that  he  has 
used  up  all  ihe  applicable  adjectives  in  his  comments  in  previous- years, 
there  is  nothing  for  him  on  the  present  occasion  but  to  go  back  and  use 
them  all  over  again  That  is  so.  Once  see  it,  the  show,  the  giounds, 
and  the  people,  and  then  you  fall  back  on  good  Dominie  Sampson’s  H>eat 
exc  amation,  “Prodigious!”  After  the  purely  professional  hoitici  Itural 
treasures  composing  the  show  to  a  gardener  have  been  examined  and 
digested,  the  great  thing  that  strikes  him  is  the  People  (People  with  a 
big  P),  and  especially  on  the  second  day,  as  he  sees  them  come  into  the 
Quariy  and  move  about,  seeing  the  show,  the  “  Flower  Show,”  as  they 
call  it,  listening  to  the  music,  laughing  at  the  “  fun  of  the  fair,”  gazing 
in  wonderment  at  marvellous  trapeze  and  other  skilled  performers, 
enjoying  hugely,  being  largely  country  folk,  the  horse  leaping, 
watching  in  thrillingly  pleasurable  excitement  the  filling  of  the  balloons 
and  their  ascent  into  the  clouds,  and  he  asks  himself  the  question,  not 
once  nor  twice.  Where  do  these  thousands  and  thousands  of  well-dressed, 
good  looking  (specially  the  women),  cheery  and  courteous,  and  well- 
behaved  people  come  from  ?  Why,  they  must  come  from  all  over  the 
three  kingdoms.  No,  they  do  not,  as  their  speech  tells  ;  they  are  la'  gely 
Salopians  of  every  grade,  with  a  large  mixture  of  neighbours  from  the 
towns  and  villages  of  Wales,  and  visitors  from  the  larger  towns  round 
about  the  county,  as  Birmingham,  Wolverhampton,  and  Staff  ird.  Of 
course,  there  are  gardeners  there  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  but 
these  are  only  a  sprinkling;  the  brightness  and  alertness  of  manner, 
the  sharp,  crisp  speech  with  its  ascending  note  up  to  the  last  word  in 
each  sentence  tells  that  the  county  owns  them,  and  how  they  do 
enjoy  themselves — innocently,  heartily,  sociably,  thoroughly.  It  does 
one  good  to  see  it. 
Only  one  note  as  to  the  show,  and  that  in  connection  with  the 
groups.  This  year  the  groups  were  arranged  with  what  I  may  style 
two  fionts,  one  on  one  side  of  the  tent,  and  the  other  on  the  other. 
Usually  they  have  been  on  the  side  with  only  one  front,  which  is  to  my 
mind  the  better  arrangement,  for  this  reason  :  the  visitors  enter  at  one 
side  or  end  of  the  tent,  and  after  traversing  it  the  whole  length,  come 
back  to  the  same  front  only  on  another  side,  compelled  to  do  this  by 
the  roped  barrier  put  up  to  protect  the  groups  and  plants  from  injury. 
The  consequence  is  that  the  visitors  see  one  side,  and  being  the  entrance 
side,  often  the  better  and  more  attractive  side  of  the  respeofive  groups, 
and  do  not  see  the  other  side  until  they  have  gone  all  round  the  tent, 
by  which  time  they  have  lost  the  connection  of  group  and  group,  and 
are  unable  to  decide  which  is  really  the  best  and  most  worthy  of  the 
various  prizes.  This  was  brought  home  to  me  forcibly  on  my  inspection 
