The Cauliflower Part 3

CHAPTER V.

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 sh.o.r.e 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 s...o...b..ll, Early Erfurt, Stadtholder and Lenormand. He has repeatedly attempted to grow the spring crop from fall-sown plants, but they have almost invariably b.u.t.toned, however late the seed was sown, or however slightly the plants were protected. Occasionally, also, the February-sown plants of Henderson's s...o...b..ll and Erfurt will b.u.t.ton.

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 s...o...b..ll, 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 Matt.i.tuck, 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 ent.i.tled "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 Matt.i.tuck 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 quant.i.ties 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 compet.i.tion 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 sc.r.a.p 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 sc.r.a.p 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 sc.r.a.p cannot be procured, some standard fertilizer is used after the second plowing without the addition of muriate of potash. The Early Dwarf Erfurt and s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll; 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, Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 s...o...b..ll. 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-gra.s.s 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 sh.o.r.e 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 unsurpa.s.sed 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 unsurpa.s.sed for this vegetable, and large quant.i.ties 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 s...o...b..ll, 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 circ.u.mference, 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 s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll 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. Ma.s.sey, of the North Carolina experiment station, says that fall-sown plants are the only ones worth growing in that lat.i.tude. 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 b.u.t.ton. 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 Bra.s.sica 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 s...o...b..ll, and the very large growing Algiers. It should be marketable in March and April. The seed therefore should be sown in the lat.i.tude of Savannah about December first, under gla.s.s, 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 s...o...b..ll) 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 gla.s.s 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.'"