CAULIFLOWER REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.
A comparatively small portion of the United States is well adapted to
the growth of cauliflower. The climate for the most part is too dry. The
districts suited to its cultivation are often of very limited area, and
are determined by local causes affecting the distribution of moisture
and the character of the soil. The manner of treating the crop, and the
degree of care necessary for successful results, will therefore depend
largely on the locality where it is grown. For the purpose of giving
more definite information on these points, the country may be divided
into the following cauliflower regions:
THE UPPER ATLANTIC COAST.
This includes the greatest number of localities where cauliflower
culture has thus far been successfully conducted in the United States.
The region is comparatively well watered, and contains a great diversity
of soil and situation. More good markets are found here than elsewhere.
The heart of this cauliflower region is now found upon the north shore
of Long Island, where there is a strong soil, in a damp climate, within
easy reach of the New York and other large markets. Two crops are grown
here, the spring and fall. Wm. Falconer, of Queen's County, states that
for the early crop he sows the seed in a hot-house in February, and
gradually gives the plants more room and cooler quarters until they are
ready for the open ground. The varieties he uses are Henderson's
Snowball, Early Erfurt, Stadtholder and Lenormand. He has repeatedly
attempted to grow the spring crop from fall-sown plants, but they have
almost invariably buttoned, however late the seed was sown, or however
slightly the plants were protected. Occasionally, also, the
February-sown plants of Henderson's Snowball and Erfurt will button.
For the main fall crop the same four varieties above mentioned are sown
out of doors about May 18th, at the time of sowing late cabbage. For a
later crop he makes another sowing a month later. These last usually
begin to head about the last of November and are taken up and protected
to furnish a supply during the winter. Mr. C. E. Swezey, of Suffolk
County, says that more money is undoubtedly made to the acre on
cauliflower than any other crop. He finds the early crop the most
profitable, although the most expensive. For this crop he uses
seventy-five tons of the best horse manure per acre, and for the late
crop about half that amount. The variety he prefers is Henderson's
Snowball, this with the Early Erfurt being the only kinds he uses.
Francis Brill, in his book on "Farm Gardening and Seed Growing," said,
in 1872, "For the past two years the farmers of the east end of Long
Island, especially about the village of Mattituck, have planted largely
of cauliflower, being incited by the successful experiments of some who
have removed here from the west end, who were formerly engaged in
growing vegetables for the New York markets. The past season the crop
has succeeded admirably, and large profits have been realized by growers
in this vicinity, and this by men, many of whom are inexperienced in the
cultivation of this or any other vegetable for market; and, moreover,
the most of it was grown at the worst possible season of the year. As a
general rule, cauliflowers do not succeed well on old land, and much of
the land hereabouts is new, and but little of it indeed has ever been
used for cabbages or anything of this nature. But beyond a doubt it is
the humid saline atmosphere of this section which makes the cultivation
of this vegetable a success. Protracted drouths are here almost unknown,
and even during the temporary absence of rain in the summer months the
air does not seem so dry and withering, so to speak, as in sections
more remote from the ocean, the Sound and the great salt water bays by
which we are surrounded." The varieties he mentions are Early Erfurt and
Early Paris for the first crop, the Nonpareil and [or] Half Early Paris
for a succession, with Lenormand and Walcheren for late.
The same author, in his work entitled "Cauliflowers and How to Grow
Them," published in 1886, says: "The cultivation of cauliflower in the
eastern towns of Suffolk County, N. Y., familiarly known as the east end
of Long Island, was begun at Mattituck about sixteen years ago, upon a
small scale, as an experiment, by one or two gardeners from the west end
who were formerly engaged in growing vegetables for New York markets.
The success which attended these experiments, and the subsequent efforts
of some of our farmers, who by reason of reported great profits, were
induced to take up the cultivation of this crop, has been an incentive
to others, until at the present time an East End farm without an acre or
more of cauliflower is an exception, while in the towns of Riverhead and
Southold many farmers grow from five to fifteen acres each, and in the
other towns of Suffolk County the business is largely on the increase.
As a rule the crop has done well, subject of course to the ravages of
insects, drouths, etc., which have at times been serious drawbacks;
especially was this the case in 1884, when the crop was almost a total
failure, but never before had we experienced such a protracted drouth or
such an abundance of insects of every known species, and only those who
were in advance of the drouth, or who had sown seed very late, succeeded
in getting heads for market, but the few who were thus situated received
almost fabulous prices for their product." The following year he says
the crop was remarkably successful, more than 100,000 barrels being
shipped from Suffolk county to the New York markets during the mouths of
October and November. "Prices this year have ranged from ten dollars
early in the season down to one dollar and twenty-five cents a barrel
during the glut, when large quantities were sold to picklers at one cent
per pound for clean trimmed clear curd or flower. As a rule early and
very late cauliflowers bring the best prices. * * * * * Experience has
taught us that stable manure applied at the time of planting, except for
the earliest spring crop, is often injurious, and I advise applying
stable manure plentifully to the crop of the preceding year, or
otherwise let it be turned under at the fall plowing, or if well rotted
at the first spring plowing, and at the time of planting apply
commercial fertilizers, or, as they are sometimes called, patent
manures, using whatever brand you may have the most confidence in. The
competition between manufacturers has become so great that all are
compelled to be at least partially honest, and several prepare a special
fertilizer for cauliflower and cabbage which works admirably. Our best
growers all use German potash salts, or Kainit, about 13 per cent.
actual potash, one ton to the acre; or sulphate of potash, equal to 27
per cent. actual potash; or muriate of potash, equal to 45 per cent.
actual potash, about one half a ton to the acre. The relative cost per
ton, of these is $16.00 for Kainit, $38.00 for sulphate and $45.00 for
muriate--these are present prices, but the market is subject to
fluctuations. These should be evenly applied broadcast and turned under
at the spring plowing, and from one half a ton to one ton of fertilizer
to the acre should be applied in the same manner on the surface, and
harrowed in at the last preparation of the soil. Of late many have been
using fish guano, which is the scrap or flesh and bone refuse from the
Menhaden oil-rendering establishments, in connection with potash salts,
with excellent results; in fact Captain Edward Hawkins, of Jamesport,
one of our most successful growers, uses nothing else, applying one ton
of each to the acre. Very good cauliflowers have been grown by opening
furrows, placing the fertilizer therein, and covering so as to form
ridges; but I advise broadcast manuring and flat cultivation for this
crop, as I am fully convinced that one acre in proper shape and
condition will pay much better than two acres only half fertilized.
Pure, fine ground bone, one ton to the acre, plowed under will be found
beneficial, especially so in carrying the plants out at the time of
heading, but it is scarcely stimulating enough for the early
requirements of the plants. Well rotted stable manure may be used to
advantage, freshly applied and plowed under, for early spring planting
of cold-frame or hot-bed plants which are expected to mature before
extremely hot-dry weather, but it has no special advantage except to
warm up the soil. * * * The great crop with us is during the months of
October and November, for which seed is sown from May 15 to June 25, and
the plants set from the middle of June to the last of August according
to the kind." The varieties named for spring planting are, "Erfurt Extra
Dwarf Earliest," and "Small Leaved Erfurt," both being also good for the
fall crop, the latter for this crop being sown as late as July 1st. The
Algiers, a standard sort for fall, is sown from May 15 to June 1. Mr.
Brill adds: "Every known sort has been tested by our growers, and I have
had in one field eighty-six samples, comprising every known variety and
sub-variety often repeated, grown from seed procured from every possible
source, and with the exception of one or two sorts, which have done well
under peculiarly favorable conditions and circumstances, all have been
positively condemned except those above named." The varieties referred
to are the Dwarf Erfurt strains (including Henderson's), the Algiers,
and the Early and Half Early Paris--the latter two being now superceded
by the former.
C. H. Allen, in the _American Agriculturist_ for 1889, page 297, says:
"No section of the United States seems so well adapted to the growing of
the cauliflower as the northeastern part of Long Island, N. Y. For the
earliest crop a piece of heavy sod ground is plowed during the month of
April. It is then spread with fish scrap at the rate of one ton to the
acre, which is thoroughly harrowed in. A strip is then prepared for
sowing seed, by raking the ground until it is in good condition; the
first sowing of seed is made May 15. The seed for the main crop is sown
ten to twenty days later. When the plants are ready to set the ground is
again plowed in an opposite direction from the first plowing and then
spread with muriate of potash at the rate of half a ton to the acre, or
if fish scrap cannot be procured, some standard fertilizer is used after
the second plowing without the addition of muriate of potash. The Early
Dwarf Erfurt and Snowball are the most popular varieties. The Algiers
has been largely used, but for the past two or three seasons has done
very poorly, and will not be grown in the future. The plants are set
three feet apart each way. This applies to Erfurt and Snowball; Algiers
requires the rows four feet apart."
The _American Garden_ for 1889, page 59, says: "Almost nine-tenths of
all the cauliflowers that come to the New York market are grown in
Suffolk County on Long Island, and this industry is said to bring about
$200,000 a year to the county. Success with cauliflower culture has been
very indifferent in other parts of Long Island and elsewhere where
tried."
A New Jersey market-gardener described his experience as follows a few
years ago in the New York _Tribune_: "Among the many uncertain crops,
the cauliflower stands prominent, for very often under the best culture,
it fails to produce a head on an acre, although the usual outlay for
preparing and manuring the ground preparatory to planting will be at
least twice as much as for a crop of late cabbage. But when a full crop
of cauliflower is raised, the profits will average three times that of
the cabbage in the same market. This being the case, it is not strange
that every means known to the profession should be resorted to with the
hope of getting year after year maximum crops of this vegetable. But, as
yet, no plan has been discovered, under our burning July and August sun,
that will make cauliflower head with certainty every season. Any
practical man, with strong ground well manured, can every now and then
raise a crop of cauliflower. But this partial success one year does very
often prove a decided loss in the long run, for the reason that it often
happens three times the amount realized from this crop will be spent in
the attempt to raise another just like it, with the determination not to
give up. This has been my experience, although the experiments are made
now on a much smaller scale than formerly. Last year I set out 2,500
plants, and only marketed 500 from the patch; the failure was owing to
late planting. To avoid any such mistake this year, the ground was made
ready for planting early in July, and by the middle of the month some
1,800 plants set out. The ground in this case was richer and more mellow
at the time of planting than last year, and the cultivation was about
the same. At first these plants grew vigorously, but late in August they
were checked from some unknown cause, and from this check they did not
recover. Some of the lower leaves had turned yellow and dropped off,
leaving the stalks almost bare, while others have made no new growth
since. Judging from present appearances, there will not be twenty-five
sizeable heads out of the 1,800 planted. This is rather discouraging,
but one has to take the good with the bad in farming or gardening. Too
late to remedy the error it was found that the variety planted was
Walcheren instead of the Erfurt, a variety that has given me more
profitable returns for the last six years than any other, unless it may
be the Half Early Paris."
In New England the crop is more uncertain than on Long Island. W. H.
Bull, of Hampden County, Massachusetts, finds the crop profitable about
one year in three. Formerly, he says, when cauliflowers were a new
thing, any kind of a head would sell, but now only the best will bring a
paying price. The loose, leafy, purple, or otherwise discolored heads
produced in hot, dry weather, are hardly worth hauling to market. He
finds the Extra Early Erfurt about as good as Henderson's Snowball. He
sows the seed in April for a fall crop. If sown after the first week in
May the plants fail to head before frost.
Around Boston the cauliflower is grown quite successfully, and, as
elsewhere stated, seed is occasionally produced there. The variety
formerly grown for the main crop was an improved form of Early Paris,
called Boston Market, but this is now displaced by the new Extra Early
Erfurt strains. It may be mentioned here that around Montreal the fall
crop is very successfully grown.
THE LAKE REGION.
In the region of the Great Lakes there are many localities having a
suitable soil in which cauliflower may be grown to good advantage. The
moist atmosphere, which renders much of this region so well adapted to
the cultivation of fruit, favors the growth of the cauliflower. In this
region the fall crop is the one mainly grown, and the half-early
varieties, such as Early Paris and Early London have been chiefly used,
though the earlier Erfurt varieties are now largely grown.
Detroit, Grand Rapids, and other Michigan cities are comparatively well
supplied with home-grown cauliflower.
In Western Michigan there is considerable high, rolling land, of a deep
loamy character, covered originally with a heavy growth of hard-wood
timber. It was on such land as this, in Ottawa County, that the writer
grew cauliflower very successfully between the years 1870 and 1884. The
land had but recently been cleared of its timber, and it seldom received
any other fertilizer than the heavy June-grass sod which was turned
under. The method of preparing the ground was the same as for any other
farm crop, and the plants, mainly of the Early Paris variety, were set
out about the last of June, usually four feet apart each way. They were
given good care, and generally began to head in September, at the time
of the autumnal equinox, when there is usually a week or two of cool,
rainy weather. Following this, early in October, there are generally a
few hard frosts which injure some of the heads if they are not kept well
covered and closely cut. The main cauliflower season then comes on,
running through October and the first half of November. In a warm, late
season nearly all the plants will have headed, and the heads have been
sold before cold weather, but when winter comes on early, a portion of
the plants will be still undeveloped; these are either gathered and
stored, as elsewhere described, or used for feeding stock. My crop was
marketed at Grand Rapids and Chicago, and was considered the finest sent
to either of those cities. Its excellence was attributed mainly to the
deep new fertile soil, which never suffered from drouth under proper
cultivation, and to the moist climate, due to the surrounding forests
and the proximity to Lake Michigan.
At South Haven, on the immediate shore of Lake Michigan, the upland is
mainly too heavy for the best growth of cauliflower. Mr. Sheffer says:
(Mich. Ag. Rep. 1888, p. 287) "We have the advantage of cheap lands,
cheap transportation to a boundless market, and a moist climate, all
making celery and cauliflower desirable crops. For cauliflower, the
proper soil is the first essential. If planted on uplands it will fail
nine times out of ten, unless set so late as to head up just before
winter. But it is better to grow it on low wet soils that can be ditched
as far away as Philadelphia."
In Kent County, with which I am familiar, the cauliflower is
successfully cultivated by many gardeners, but, as the air is drier,
more care is required there in selecting the soil, the crop being
usually grown on bottom lands favorably situated with regard to
moisture, and containing an abundance of vegetable matter. It is
occasionally grown on muck, but such land is not as reliable as that of
a heavier character. On the light, sandy, and gravelly uplands, which
abound in this county, the cultivation of the cauliflower is seldom
attempted, and always fails, except in unusually wet seasons, although
when such land is heavily manured, the cabbage may be grown
successfully.
At Duluth, Minnesota, near the western end of Lake Superior, I have seen
as fine cauliflowers growing as I ever saw anywhere. The soil was black
loamy, upland.
Mr. J. S. Brocklehurst, of Oneota, in the same county, considers his
locality unsurpassed for the cauliflower.
In Northern Wisconsin there is considerable territory which is excellent
for cauliflower. In 1890, the first, second and third prizes offered by
James Vick, for the best heads of Vick's Ideal were all awarded to
growers in Eau Clare County, Wisconsin.
The recent introduction of very early varieties is likely to have an
important result in extending the cultivation of the cauliflower, in the
extreme Northern States and Canada, where the soil and climate are in
many places peculiarly adapted to it, but where the seasons are so short
that it has not heretofore been successfully grown.
Around Chicago much of the soil is unsurpassed for this vegetable, and
large quantities of it are grown, but not enough to supply its local
demand.
The most successful cultivators of this vegetable near Chicago are the
market gardeners in the Holland settlement south of the city, and the
Germans on the north. All are more successful with the late crop than
with the early. One of the most successful of these growers sometimes
sets his plants as late as the first of August, using seed direct from
friends in Holland.
In Mahoning County, Ohio, which may be included, for convenience, in the
Lake Region, Mr. Milton, who makes a specialty of the cauliflower,
states that it is a good paying crop, but requires high cultivation, and
if possible a moist soil. He states that he has tried all the varieties
in cultivation, and finds a great difference in seed of the same variety
from different growers. For the early crop he one year planted
Henderson's Snowball, extra selected Early Erfurt, and Vick's Ideal, and
found, owing to a drouth which set in just as the heads began to form,
that the last variety was the only one which gave paying heads. For a
late crop he generally uses Half-Early Paris, but has had good success
with Algiers in a warm season. This variety must be started very early,
however, in order to head before winter.
THE PRAIRIE REGION.
Prairie soil is usually well adapted to the cauliflower, and in
favorable seasons a good crop is obtained, but such seasons are so
little to be depended on in this region that cauliflower culture on a
large scale is only profitable here under irrigation, or in restricted
localities where the soil is naturally moist.
The gardeners around St. Louis have good success in growing cauliflower
on the bottom land. Professor L. R. Taft says, "During two of the years
I lived in Missouri it was very hot and dry and on the heavy clay soil
of most of the state cauliflower, as a field crop, was a failure. I had
good success, however, by planting one foot apart in cold frames from
which lettuce had been taken; they were watered as required and during
the hottest weather were protected to some extent by means of lath
screens."
One disadvantage in this uncertainty of a crop in the West is its effect
upon the market. A product which is rarely seen in the market brings a
low price when abundant and fails to bring a high price in times of
scarcity. Few people use it, and these do not become so accustomed to it
as to be willing to pay a high price for it when it is scarce.
Mr. Riche, of Iowa, tells in a report of the Iowa Horticultural Society,
how, in 1884, he overstocked the Dubuque market with 8000 heads. A Mr.
Smith relates how, a few years previous, he was obliged to sell 4000
heads for a little over one cent per head; yet in this same market more
familiar products often bring high prices. Another Iowa gardener grew a
field of cauliflower by mistake, having purchased the seed for cabbage,
and found himself unable to sell the crop at all!
In the irrigated districts of the West, cauliflower is grown to great
perfection. One of the largest cauliflowers on record, four feet three
inches in circumference, was grown in Colorado under irrigation in 1881.
A moist atmosphere is less important than plenty of water at the root,
especially at the time of heading, when it should be supplied, if
possible, in small amount every day. The somewhat saline character of
the soil in the dry regions also favors the growth of this crop whenever
a sufficient supply of water is given.
At the Colorado experiment station sixteen varieties were grown under
irrigation in 1888 (see table under Variety Tests), of which
Henderson's Snowball and Extra Early Erfurt gave the best results. At
the Arkansas station, the following year, out of twelve varieties these
two were the only ones that produced heads. At the South Dakota station,
Henderson's Snowball and Haskell's Favorite, a variety apparently
identical with it, gave good results.
CAULIFLOWER IN THE SOUTH.
The cauliflower, as a market crop, is but little grown in the South, but
there is no good reason why it should not become extensively cultivated
there. The chief hindrances to its cultivation in the South have been
the lack of high priced local markets, and the liability of the heads to
heat during transportation to the North.
The most favorable localities for growing this vegetable in the South
are near the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, especially near the mouths of
rivers where there is an alluvial soil and a moist atmosphere. The
cauliflower is better adapted than the cabbage to a warm climate, but
heavier soil is required for it in the South than at the North.
W. F. Massey, of the North Carolina experiment station, says that
fall-sown plants are the only ones worth growing in that latitude. The
seed should be sown in September. The crop should head not later than
March or April, as the heat is too great after April for good heads. By
forcing, the plants may be headed in the frames in winter. More heat and
protection are needed for this than in merely keeping over the plants.
When the plants are approaching full size a light dressing of nitrate of
soda raked into the soil is used to push them along and check any
tendency to button. Lettuce is usually grown in the frames between the
plants while small.
Dr. A. Oemler,[A] of Savannah, Georgia, says: "If this most delicate and
most valuable member of the Brassica family, would 'carry' more safely
at locations suitable for its cultivation, it would be one of the most
important crops for the truck farmer. Although so situated, I have
abandoned its culture, notwithstanding I have netted as high as $24.75
in New York per barrel for it, and the heads or 'curds' have sold at a
gross average of thirty-seven cents each. Sometimes, however, it would
continue to arrive in such bad order as not to be worth shipping. For
the past two years its culture for the Northern market has been mainly
confined to Florida. Coming so much earlier there, it is not exposed to
heating in transit. The best varieties are Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt,
the Snowball, and the very large growing Algiers. It should be
marketable in March and April. The seed therefore should be sown in the
latitude of Savannah about December first, under glass, and the plants
transplanted about January tenth."
Dr. Charles Mohr, of Mobile, Alabama, writes: "From my own experience I
judge that this vegetable does not succeed as well in the southern part
of this state as in its central and more northern parts. I have seen it
raised of good quality in the gardens of Montgomery, and in the greatest
perfection in the highlands of north Alabama at an elevation of about
500 feet above the Gulf--at Cullman, in a somewhat light loamy soil,
well supplied with stable manure. In that locality the seeds are sown by
the end of February in a cold frame, to allow protection of the young
plants from frost, and the plants are transferred to the open land by
the middle of March. They arrive at their perfection during the first
half of the month of May. Another sowing is made during the first week
of March to furnish a crop during the early part of June. In that
locality this vegetable is raised only to meet a very limited home
demand. My informant at Montgomery, who raises only a supply for his own
use, writes: 'I have raised cauliflower here with success for a series
of years, some of the heads weighing six to seven pounds. The soil of
my garden is a light sandy loam, requiring heavy manuring, and frequent
irrigation of the plants toward the time of heading; it cannot be said
to be exactly suited to this vegetable. I get my seed (the White
Snowball) from Peter Henderson, of New York, sow in December in hot-bed,
transplant as soon as large enough to a cold frame, and transplant as
soon as danger of frost is over, say about the first part or middle of
March, to the open ground, which has been well prepared and manured with
stable manure. I cultivate the same as for cabbage, and the crop matures
about the first of May.'
"One of the most successful market gardeners and truck farmers in this
vicinity [Mobile], says: 'We have cultivated cauliflower for a long
series of years, but find it much less profitable than the raising of
cabbage; first, on account of its tenderness, making it liable to be
injured in transportation to distant markets, and second, by reason of
repeated failure of the crop in consequence of the too early advent of
spells of hot and dry weather at the opening of the warm season. We sow
in November in cold frame, keep well thinned out under glass until about
the 20th of January, then transplant to the open ground, cultivating
well with frequent watering if the weather should be dry. If the months
of April and May are dry and hot the crop results in a failure, from
which, in our dry and thirsty soil, no irrigation will save it. In
favorable seasons we have fine results, raising heads from ten to
sixteen inches in diameter. In the perpetually damp and inexhaustibly
fertile soil of the alluvial lands in the Mobile River delta (marshes
drained by ditching) the cauliflower is raised in the greatest
perfection, and is ready by Christmas time for the home market, bringing
fancy prices. In such localities the early varieties, particularly the
Early Paris, are used, the seed being sown in August. Outside of these
marshes the early varieties are not grown, as they produce only small
and meagre heads. Among the later varieties we find Algiers and
Lenormand the best, buying the seed from Vilmorin in Paris.'"
Mr. J. N. Whitner, in his work on "Gardening in Florida," recommends
Early Snowball, Extra Early Paris, and Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt. The
seed is sown in boxes in autumn and protected from beating rains, and if
sown before the middle of October the plants are also protected from the
direct sun during the middle of the day. The main crop is planted out
before the first of November, and harvested the following spring. In the
northern portion of the state the plants are sometimes injured by the
cold in winter. The crop is not yet extensively grown in that state. In
regard to suitable soil, Mr. Whitner says:
"In this state almost every truck farmer has some low rich spot of
bottom, lake or river margin suitable for the production of the
cauliflower. It must, however, be well drained land, and no matter how
fertile it may _seem_ to be naturally, a liberal supply of manure will
more certainly insure handsome flower heads."
Mr. Frotzer, a New Orleans seedsman, says of the cauliflower:
"This is one of the finest vegetables grown, and succeeds well in the
vicinity of New Orleans. Large quantities are raised on the sea-coast in
the neighborhood of Barataria Bay. The two Italian varieties are of
excellent quality, growing to large size, and are considered hardier
than the German and French varieties. I have had specimens brought to my
store, raised from seed obtained from me, weighing sixteen pounds. The
ground for planting cauliflower should be very rich. They thrive best in
rich, sandy soil, and require plenty of moisture during the formation of
the head. The Italian varieties should be sown from April till July; the
latter month and June is the best time to sow the Early Giant. During
August, September and October, the Lenormand, Half Early Paris and
Erfurt can be sown. The Half Early Paris is very popular, but the other
varieties are just as good. For spring crop the Italian kinds do not
answer, but the Early French and German varieties can be sown at the end
of December and during January, in a bed protected from frost, and may
be transplanted into the open ground during February and as late as
March. If we have a favorable season, and not too dry, they will be very
fine; but if the heat sets in soon, the flowers will not attain the same
size as those obtained from seeds sown in fall, and which head during
December and January."
In the _Texas Farm and Ranch_, H. M. Stringfellow, of Hitchcock,
Galveston County, gives an account of his success with American grown
(Puget Sound) seed of Henderson's Snowball cauliflower. He says:
"After two years careful trial, I have found this seed every way
superior to the original imported stock, good as that was, for our hot
climate. The plants are much more robust, make equally as compact but
larger heads, and what is most remarkable, they mature here fully two
weeks or more ahead of the imported seed. Nearly every plant will make a
marketable head, and they always sell for fully double as much as
cabbage.
"These American seeds begin to head about the first of November, and are
nearly all gone by Christmas, which gives ample time to get the crop
off in any part of Texas.
"The cauliflower is emphatically a fall vegetable and seems to require
for its perfect development a gradually decreasing temperature. The seed
should be sowed from the first to the fifteenth of July, in a frame.
Make the ground very rich, and if you use salt, which I consider almost
an essential for this crop, turn it under deeply at the first plowing.
In fact, salt and potash had better be deeply worked into the soil
always, as it will not do for either to come in contact with the roots
of a newly set plant.
"Until recently I have always thought that it would injure a plant to
set it in soil to which cottonseed meal had been lately applied. But
experiments made in the last few weeks prove that it is not only not
injurious, but that cabbage plants grow off with wonderful vigor when
the meal was applied the day before the plants were set.
"It will pay to subsoil for cauliflower, in order to give them all the
moisture possible, though they will stand a drouth in the fall equally
as well as a cabbage."
In this connection may be mentioned the following account of cauliflower
growing at Durango, Mexico, sent to the _Gardener's Chronicle_ in 1853:
The writer says: "Of the culinary vegetables, none excel the
cauliflower, which attains such a size that a single head measures 18
inches to 2 feet in diameter, and makes a donkey load. The gigantic
cauliflower is not distinct from our European species, but is solely
produced by a cultivation which necessity has dictated. Being one of the
Northern vegetables that degenerate or bear no seed if not annually
procured from Europe, it is propagated by cuttings. After the heads are
gathered the stubs are allowed to throw out new shoots, which are again
planted and have to grow two years, producing the second, the enormous
heads."
The following from Woodrow's "Gardening in India," (4th edition, Bombay,
1888), contains many interesting points of suggestive value for the
extreme South:
"Cauliflower, being a delicate plant, always needs great care and
attention in its cultivation, but much less care is necessary in this
country than in Europe. The soil most suitable is a rich friable loam,
such as occurs in the black soil of the Duccan, the alluvial tracts in
the basin of the Ganges or Nerbudda. Thorough working of the soil is
necessary, and in stations where the market price of cauliflower is
usually over four annas per head, as is the case in many parts of
Southern India, the crop is well worth extra care in the preparation of
the soil. This process should be begun shortly after the rains, when the
soil is easily plowed or dug. It should then be turned up roughly to a
depth of a foot or fifteen inches. A month later the clods should be
broken with the mallet or clod crusher, and the plow put through the
ground a second time. When the soil has weathered a few weeks, the
scarifier or cultivator should be run over it once monthly until May. At
that time good decayed cow dung or poudrette should be spread one inch
deep, and any close growing crop which is not valuable, such as _sunn_,
_tag_, _chanamoo_, or _Crotolaria juncea_, should be sown to keep down
weeds and encourage the formation of nitric acid in the soil, which has
been proved to be effected to a greater extent under a crop than on bare
soil. During dry weather in August the crop should be pulled up and the
ground plowed or dug and the crop buried in the trenches to act as green
manure, and the land prepared for irrigation.
The seed-bed should be prepared by thorough digging and mixing about an
inch in depth of old manure; wood ashes and decayed sweepings having a
quantity of goat or sheep dung in it is well suited for the seed-bed at
this season. Cow dung is apt to have the larva of the dung beetle in
it--a very large caterpillar which destroys young plants by eating
through the stem under ground. The bed having been thoroughly watered,
the seed may be sown broadcast or in lines, and covered with a quarter
of an inch of fine, dry, sandy soil, and shaded from bright sunshine.
When the seedlings appear, gradually remove the shade. The most
convenient form of bed is not more than four feet in width, the length
being sufficient for the ground to be planted. One ounce of seed is
sufficient for a bed fifty feet square, which will give sufficient
plants for an acre if the seed is good. Sowing should be made once in
ten days, from the middle of August till the end of September. If the
garden has been neglected, or the district remarkable for the quantity
of grubs that yearly come out in August, spread a considerable part of
the garden with a thick coating of stable litter or dry leaves and burn
it, prepare the seed bed in the middle of the burnt space, and soak two
pounds of saltpetre in water for one hundred square feet, and water the
bed with it for at least two weeks before sowing the seed. When the
seedlings have acquired about five leaves, and the ground to plant is
ready, lift the young plants gently on a cloudy day, and plant them out
two and one-half feet apart each way. If bright sunshine comes out,
shade the newly moved plants with broad leaves, and water them daily
with the watering pot for a few days, besides irrigating sufficiently
to keep the soil moist. Afterwards, hoeing, picking grubs and replacing
the losses from the seed-bed must be attended to.
The selection of sorts is a serious matter in cauliflower culture,
because many sorts grow only to leaves in some climates, and great loss
has been met with by some people in consequence of getting the wrong
variety. The variety known to English seedsmen as Large Asiatic, has
established itself in the Northern Provinces, where a good head of
cauliflower is procurable in December for one-half anna. In Bombay the
same would cost ten times that sum. The seed of this variety is
remarkably cheap in the districts it bears seed in. From Shajehanpore I
bought large quantities at Rs. 2 per pound, while the price of seed from
England was Rs. 2 per ounce. This sort is perfectly reliable when
properly cultivated, but it is considered inferior in flavor and
delicacy to English sorts, and its season is very short. It appears to
run to seed when January comes, at whatever time it may have been sown,
while English varieties come into use from the beginning of December to
the end of February according to the date of sowing.
Among European varieties, success will generally be met with by sowing
Early London and Walcheren. The different Giant and Mammoth varieties
advertised in seedsmen's catalogues should be grown as extras, and if
one is found to suit the soil and climate of a particular station, it
may be grown more extensively afterwards; my experience with those
varieties has not been happy."
THE PACIFIC COAST.
Fine early cauliflowers are grown in California under irrigation, and
marketed as far east as Chicago. Oregon and Washington include a large
area adapted to cauliflower growing, and this favorable territory
extends northward into Alaska. The cool, moist climate of the Upper
Pacific coast resembles that of England, where cauliflowers are so
extensively grown.
There are few good markets yet in this region, but the rapid growth of
the cities which exist affords promise of a large future demand for this
vegetable, which is likely to come into more general use as it becomes
better known.
Professor E. R. Lake, of the Oregon experiment station, states that some
parts of the Oregon coast are well adapted to the cauliflower, but that
other interests and lack of transportation facilities have thus far
prevented its cultivation for market, the bulk of the crop sold there
coming from California. He adds that the Chinese in the vicinity of
Portland cultivate this vegetable, but that their peculiar methods are
not yet understood.
Some ten years ago experiments were begun by one of our seedsmen in
raising cauliflower and cabbage seed on the alluvial tide lands on the
shore of Puget Sound. These lands, after being diked and drained, proved
to be remarkably well adapted to the growth of the cauliflower and its
seed. Others have since engaged in growing these seeds in the same
region, and the business is assuming large proportions. An account of
this enterprise may be found in the chapter on Seed.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Dr. Oemler is the author of an excellent work entitled "Truck
Farming in the South." His farm is on Wilmington Island, in the mouth of
the Savannah River.