t varieties now
grown, and, for this country, at least, are the best. The typical
variety is usually sold under the name Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt, and if
properly selected seed is secured, this is nearly or quite as early as
any of the strains which have received special names. Among the best of
these latter are Henderson's Snowball, Thorburn's Gilt Edge, and Vick's
Ideal, the latter a little the largest and latest. For growing under
glass the first two of these varieties are as good as any. The earliest
varieties are now often grown also for the fall crop, particularly at
the North, by being sown late. Their greater certainty to head on time,
and the increased number that can be grown on an acre, renders them
especially valuable.

A variety which in the past has given the most general satisfaction for
the fall crop is Early Paris. Of the later maturing varieties, Veitch's
Autumn Giant and Lenormand Short-stem, have been, and are still,
popular, especially at the South. At present probably more than
three-fourths of the cauliflowers grown in this country are of the new
varieties of the Dwarf Erfurt group. For the North, especially, these
are now the most reliable and are increasing in popularity.

CHAPTER IX.

BROCCOLI.

The Broccolis are so similar to the cauliflowers that some account of
them may be expected in a treatise on the latter vegetable. In fact, no
important structural difference between the two vegetables exists, the
broccolis being merely a more robust and hardy group of varieties,
requiring a longer period for development, and adapted, in mild
climates, to cultivation during the winter. They are, in fact, often
called "winter cauliflowers." They receive but little attention in the
United States, where the winters, at least at the north, in the vicinity
of the leading markets, are too severe for the out-door growth of
vegetables of any kind. For this reason cauliflowers, which come to
maturity in a single season, are grown instead. The supply of these two
vegetables, therefore, which in western Europe, by means of successive
sowings of varieties of both cauliflowers and broccolis, may be
maintained the year round, is here, owing to the conditions of our
climate, confined chiefly to the seasons of the year in which
cauliflower can be obtained.

Although no sharp distinctions can be drawn between broccolis and
cauliflowers, there are certain general differences which separate
them. As has been