one acre each year, which has
certainly averaged $1,500. On one occasion the crop proved almost an
entire failure, owing to unusual drought in May; while, on another
occasion, with an unusually favorable season, it sold at nearly $3,000
per acre. The average price for all planted is about $15 per 100, and as
from 10,000 to 12,000 are grown to the acre, it will result in nearly
the average before named--$1,500 per acre. Unlike cabbages, however,
only a limited number is yet sold, and I have found that an acre of them
has been quite as much as could be profitably grown in one garden."

The above, by the late well-known New York seedsman and market-gardener,
though written nearly forty years ago, is true to-day, so far as the
general profitableness of the cauliflower is concerned, and the extra
care required with the early crop.

The chief condition of success with early cauliflowers is that they
shall head before hot weather comes on. To this end the earliest
varieties are chosen, and they are set as early as possible in the
spring, and pushed rapidly forward, as stated, by using protection if
necessary, and by high manuring. It is an advantage to set the early
plants between ridges, as is done with early cabbage. The ridges hold
the sun and keep off the cold winds, and the furrows between carry off
the surface water. The plants are best set upon the south or east side
of the ridges, near the base. A good furrow with an ordinary plow forms
a sufficient ridge.

Formerly it was thought necessary to start the plants in the fall, but
since the newer early sorts have been produced, this is being abandoned.
Fall sowing has never been as successful in the Northern United States
as in England, and the failures to grow cauliflowers successfully in
this country have often resulted from adhering to the methods employed
in the Old World. Plants started in hot-beds in February, and properly
hardened off, receive but little check when set out, and make a better
growth than those which have been wintered over.

In the latitude of Virginia and Maryland, wintering over the young
plants may be resorted to, and for gardeners in that latitude the
methods adopted in England will be well worth studying, even if they
can not be literally followed. The time for sowing the seed should be so
gauged that the plants shall be neither too large nor too small during
the coldest months. If too small they will not be sufficiently hardy to
winter over