Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts, a sub-variety of Brassica oleracea (B. O. bullata gemmifera), so named on account of its peculiar habit, producing a bud-like cluster of leaves in the axil of each leaf from the base to the top of the stem. These buds or sprouts are the parts of the plant that are eaten, and are highly esteemed for their delicate flavour and wholesome quality. Brussels sprouts is one of the hardest of green winter vegetables, which, though chiefly cultivated in the gardens of the rich, is, on account of the great weight of crop it yields, and its extreme hardness, worthy of a considerable space being devoted to it in the gardens of the poor. There are strains of the plant distinguished from each other by greater or less tallness of stem, and by the larger or smaller size and compactness of the sprouts. As a rule, the shorter stemmed strains have the largest and most compact sprouts, and are consequently the most favoured. The superior strains once obtained by seed-growers and by market-gardeners are very carefully selected for the purpose of producing seed, only those individual plants which present the most perfect points being reserved for seed production. As regards cultivation, the plant, like all of the cabbage tribe, requires deep rich soil to bring it to fullest perfection. The seed is sown in the open ground in February or March, according to the character of the weather, and again in the first week of April to prolong the succession of crops. Those sown in February will come into use in October or November, and the later sowings successively for about six months. Having comparatively little spread of leaves, the plants may be set more closely than most other Brassicæ, from eighteen to twenty-four inches apart each way being the usual distances allowed from plant to plant.