th a little of the finest old rotted manure. A
small amount of lime or ashes raked into the soil is a benefit, and is
thought to prevent the attack of the cabbage maggot, though its value,
if any, for this purpose, is slight. An old brush-heap burnt off makes a
favorite place for sowing cauliflower and cabbage seed, but it is seldom
that market gardeners care to go out of their way to get such a place.
The large cauliflower growers of Long Island usually sow the seed in
drills across one end of the field in which the crop is to be grown,
raking into the soil before sowing, a moderate dressing of some
commercial fertilizer.

It is often recommended to sow the seed on the north side of a fence, or
in some other partially shaded place. I have never seen any necessity
for this, and once spoiled a quantity of plants by growing them in the
partial shade of some large trees. At the South, as elsewhere stated, it
is sometimes necessary to give the young plants shade during the middle
of the day if they are started in the summer months.

The seed should always be sown thinly, not only because it is expensive
and none should be wasted, but in order that all may have room to
develop into healthy and stocky plants. If the weather is at all dry it
is well to lay boards, or some other covering, over the seed-bed until
the plants begin to come up. This will insure speedy and uniform
germination. If this is done the seed may be sown very shallow;
otherwise it should be sown at least half an inch deep (or even deeper
if the soil is light) and the soil pressed firm after sowing.

Transplanting the young plants in the seed-bed will render them stocky
and vigorous, and should always be practiced with the early crop, but if
the seed is sown sufficiently thin it is unnecessary with out-door
plants intended for the late crop. Some growers, including Mr. Gregory
of Massachusetts, practice sowing the seed in hills in the open ground
where the plants are to remain. Several seeds are placed in a hill to
insure against loss. This method, however, will seldom be found
desirable.

To the above may be added the following excellent directions given by
Mr. Francis Brill, of Riverhead, Long Island, in his pamphlet on the
cauliflower: "Occasionally, by reason of drouth, and frequently by
reason of the ravages of insects, great difficulty has been experienced
in growing plants in spring and early summer, which seldom occurs in the
fall--at which time,