Cauliflower

Cauliflower, a variety of the common kale or cabbage. It was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans, but was little attended to in England till the end of the 17th century; yet prior to the French Revolution cauliflower formed an article of export from England to Holland, whilst English cauliflower seed is still preferred on the Continent. The deformed inflorescence or heads of the cauliflower only are used. Its cultivation for the supply of Covent Garden and other markets occupies the attention of the market-gardeners of London, Cornwall, Devonshire, and the Channel Islands to a very large extent during winter and spring. It is much more tender than Broccoli (q.v.), and the plants that are reared in August for the purpose of supplying the first crop of the following summer require to be protected under hand-glasses or frames during winter. They require to be freely exposed to air in mild or comparatively mild weather, but severe frost must be prevented from entering the glasses or frames. From the middle of August to the 24th of that month, make two or three sowings at intervals of three or four days. The plants reared from these sowings are planted out, a certain portion of the strongest under hand-glasses to furnish the earliest crop; and an abundant reserve of the smaller plants are planted a few inches apart in frames, to be planted out finally in the spring in the open ground. To succeed these a sowing may be made in a hotbed in January or February; and again in March and May, plants should be reared for successional crops, these later sowings being made in the open ground. The ground must be rich and the cultivation high to produce cauliflower of first-rate quality; there is some risk, however, in having the ground too rich for the winter crop in the case of severe weather occurring; if the plants are extra luxuriant, they will the more readily succumb to frost.