period, by digging it well over neatly, one spade deep, and breaking the surface fine; then sow the seed, and rake it in evenly and lightly; or, before the seed is sown, gently beat and smooth the surface of the bed with the back of a spade; sow the seed and sift over it about a quarter of an inch of light mould.

When the weather is dry, gentle waterings in the evening are necessary, both before and after the plants appear; and if very hot dry weather, it is advisable to shade the bed with mats, or some light covering, in the heat of the day, but by no means let the plants be drawn up weakly. Should they rise too thick, or in clusters, they must be thinned out, so as to leave them single at a small distance apart. All the culture necessary afterwards is occasional watering and weeding, until towards the latter end of September, when their leaves will be an inch or two broad: a quantity of the best plants should then be pricked out in three feet beds of rich earth, in rows three or four inches apart, rejecting all crooked and, as we gardeners term them, black-shanked plants. As soon as they are planted, a moderate watering should be given, which, when the weather continues dry, may be occasionally repeated. The plants must remain there till about the end of October or beginning of November, when preparation must be made for transplanting them into their winter quarters, some being planted out under handglasses for the earliest crops, others into garden frames, to be occasionally protected by glasses till planted out in spring.

The plants intended to be wintered in frames may

occasionally be pricked out at once from the seedbed into the frames to remain.

For the plants to be cultivated under glasses, a proper bed of the richest mellow ground should be provided, in the warmest and most sheltered part of the garden, in a free exposure to the full sun. The front of a south border, should there be one of sufficient length to spare, will be the most eligible for this purpose. If the soil is not considered of sufficient richness, it should be well manured with the best rotten dung, spread equally over the ground at least three or four inches thick, and trenched in a good spade deep, and buried equally. Then form the ground into beds three feet wide, with two alleys for the convenience of going in to raise the glasses and set them off and on. After the beds are properly levelled, a line should be marked out in the centre of the bed as a mark to place the handglasses, which should be three feet apart. plants are then put in, four straight and healthy ones being selected for each glass they are planted at about four inches apart; a little water is afterwards given, and the glasses put on and kept close for a few days till the plants have taken root. This being observed, prop up the glasses about three inches high on the sunny side, to admit air; and if in the course of a fortnight the weather is dry and favourable, the glasses may be taken quite off in the day-time, but must always be put on again at night. During the winter the glasses should be kept almost constantly over the plants, but propped up during mild weather, on the warmest side, for the admission of air. When cutting winds or

The

frosty weather prevail, they should be kept as close down as possible; and for their more certain protection (especially in private and small gardens, where there is not a large quantity of glasses), on the approach of such severe weather as was experienced in the last winter of 1838, and which destroyed nearly all the cauliflowers in the country, some dry litter or fern laid down as close as possible about the lower part of each glass, and raised higher as occasion may require, would do much towards the effectual preservation of the plants.

Any further attention the plants will require till spring consists principally in giving air at all such times as the weather will admit of the picking off the decayed leaves; and a little lime and soot mixed, occasionally strewed lightly upon the surface, under the glasses, will greatly protect the plants from the depredation of caterpillars and slugs, &c.

With respect to the plants which remain in the frames, nothing more is necessary than to give them plenty of air in favourable weather; to protect them with additional coverings of garden mats when the frost is very severe, and to look them over occasionally, to pick off any decayed leaves, insects, &c. The author must caution the horticulturist against allowing the plants to be drawn up, as by so doing he runs the hazard of losing the crop by the plants becoming button-headed, or producing very small heads, while in the frames. This arises in general from over-nursing; therefore, the more hardy the plants are brought up the better.

When there is a want of frames, cauliflowers may be protected by planting them in three or four foot

beds, and covering them with mats; or by planting them close under a south wall, and occasionally covering them with some dry litter in hard weather.

Previously to planting out the cauliflowers wintered in frames, the plants under the handglasses should be looked over, and if there is a deficiency of less than two, occasioned either by their prematurely running to flower or other causes, this deficiency should be made up with the strongest and best plants in the frames, which if carefully raised with the point of a trowel, to preserve the fibres of the roots, will receive but little check in their removal, and quickly succeed the more permanent plants.

In the spring culture of the plants under handglasses, they must be thinned out, and one or two stout plants left to each glass; the mould should be stirred up, and a little drawn up round their stems, and as the plants advance in growth, the earth should be formed into a sort of basin under each glass, the better to contain the necessary waterings both before and after the glasses are entirely removed. In proportion to the advanced growth of the plants, the benefit of the full air in mild days, and that of warm showers, by occasionally setting the glasses wholly off, must not be omitted, always taking care to defend them during the night, and in cold rains or boisterous weather. When the weather becomes warm, and the plants are grown too large for the glasses, they should then, by degrees, be fully exposed night and day, so that by the latter end of April the glasses may altogether be discontinued. At this period, if the weather is hot and

dry, moderate waterings will be of utility in promoting the progress of the plants to maturity. Towards the latter end of May some of the forwardest plants will begin to show flower, at which time they should be examined daily; and whenever a flower appears to be advanced in growth, turn down some of the inward leaves over the head, to screen it from the sun's rays and from rain, in order to preserve it more white and close, as the excellence of the cauliflower consists not only in size, but in the whiteness, and compact growth of the head.

In gathering or cutting cauliflowers, the flower head should mostly be cut off with some inches of the stalk, together with most of the surrounding leaves, which should be trimmed down nearly equal to the circumference of the head, especially when for present use; but those required to be kept a few days, or intended for market, should have the full leaves to continue, and be trimmed off as they are wanted. As the stalks of these plants never produce sprouts, as in those of the cabbage kind, they should be moved as soon as the head is cut. In regard to the plants which were wintered in the frames, as the spring approaches they should be inured by degrees to the full air, by taking the glasses off entirely every day, and gradually leaving them fully exposed at night, to harden them for their removal into the places where they are to remain. From the middle of March till about the same time in April is the best time for transplanting all the plants wintered in frames or elsewhere, as well as the superfluous plants taken from under the hand-glasses. For this purpose an open spot