=Winter Broccoli== should not be sown before the end of March and thence
to the end of April. As a rule, the April sowing will make the best
crop, although much depends on season, soil, and climate. Begin to plant
out early, and continue planting until a sufficient breadth of ground is
covered. Within reasonable limits it will be found that the time of
planting does not much affect the date when the heads turn in, and only
in a moderate degree influences the size of them.

==Spring Broccoli== are capricious, no matter what the world may say. It
will occasionally happen that sorts planted for cutting late in spring
will turn in earlier than they are wanted, and the sun rather than the
seedsman must be blamed for their precocity. In average seasons the late
sorts turn in late; but the Broccoli is a sensitive plant, and
unseasonable warmth results in premature development. Sow the Spring
Broccoli in April and May, the April sowing being the more important. It
will not do, however, to follow a strict rule save to this effect, that
early and late sowings are the least likely to succeed, while mid-season
sowings--say from the middle of April to the middle of May--will, as a
rule, make the best crops. Where there is a constant demand for Broccoli
in the early months of the year, two or three small sowings will be
better than one large sowing.

==Summer Broccoli== are useful when Peas are late, and they are always
over in time to make way for the glut of the Pea crop. Late Queen may,
in average seasons, be cut at the end of May and sometimes in June, if
sown about the middle of May in the previous year, and carefully
managed. This excellent variety can, as a rule, be relied on, both to
withstand a severe winter in an exposed situation and to keep up the
supplies of first-class vegetables until the first crop of Cauliflower
is ready, and Peas are coming in freely. Generally speaking, smallish
heads, neat in shape and pure in colour, are preferred. They are the
most profitable as a crop and the most acceptable for the table. An
open, breezy place should be selected for a plantation of late Broccoli,
the land well drained, and it need not be made particularly rich with
manure. But good land is required, with plenty of light and air to
promote a dwarf sturdy growth and late turning in.

==Protection in Winter==.--Various plans are adopted for the protection of
Broccoli during winter. Much is to be said in favour of leaving them to