Part 5 (1/2)

In this country this disease has been reported from Michigan, New York, Maryland and Florida. On Long Island, in 1889,[C] the cauliflower crop was almost entirely destroyed by this disease, which was attributed to the heavy rains at the time the plants were heading. Some fields were a total loss, and from the best fields many of the heads spoiled before they reached the market.

No satisfactory remedy is known for the disease. The avoidance of damp soils and locations would be of some benefit, but is hardly practicable with the cauliflower. Wide planting is practiced on Long Island in order to diminish the tendency to the disease. It undoubtedly has this effect to some extent, by permitting a more free circulation of the air, thus drying up the moisture on the plants and thereby lessening the opportunity for the germination of the spores. The increased distance may also diminish the chance of the spread of the spores from plant to plant. When this disease appears upon the early crop in hot-beds or cold frames it may be kept somewhat in check by giving as much air as possible, and taking care not to apply water to the leaves.

DAMPING OFF.--This is usually due to a species of Pythium (a fungus closely related to that which causes the potato rot), which attacks the young plants soon after they germinate. The remedy is, to give the plants plenty of air until their stems become strong enough to resist its attacks. An additional precaution sometimes employed is to grow the plants in pans or small boxes and water them only by setting these in a tank of water of nearly the same depth, allowing the water to soak into the soil, but not touch the plants. The disease is seldom troublesome on plants grown thinly in the open air. If it makes its appearance, water thoroughly, but not too often, and sprinkle dry sand over the seed-bed among the plants.[D]

BLACK LEG OR MILDEW.--This is a disease which attacks the stems of young plants which are being wintered over. It is undoubtedly due to one or more species of parasitic fungi, but I do not find that the subject has been studied. Doubtless the rupture of the bark by alternate freezing and thawing gives the fungi an opportunity to attack the plant.

The disease is prevented and kept in check by keeping the seed-bed dry.

An occasional dressing of sand, lime, wood-ashes or rubbish of any kind, is useful.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] _Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 1886_ (_Rev. Bib._, p. 128). La cancrena del Cavolo Fiore (_La gangrene humide du Chou-fleur_) par M. le Professor O. Comes (_Atti del R. Inst.i.tuto del incorraggiamento alle Scienzie naturali._--Estratta dal Vol. IV, 3a serie, degli Atti Academici, 1885). [The Humid Gangrene of the Cauliflower.]

”A disease which attacks the crops of cauliflower around Resina and at Torre del Greco, near Naples. The roots of the diseased plants remain sound, or at least appear so, but the subterranean parts of the stem are more or less seriously affected; the bark is disorganized, the wood situated beneath it more or less decomposed, and the pith destroyed for a variable length. Upon microscopic examination the vessels are found filled with gum. M. Comes recognizes in this disease all the symptoms of the affection which has been designated under the name humid gangrene.

He thinks that it is the same disease which, by German authors, is attributed to the parasitism of _Pleospora Napi_, f.u.c.kel, or to its conidiferous form, _sporidesmium excitosum_, Kuehn. But he considers the presence of these parasites as an accessory phenomenon, as well as that of _Cladosporium_ and _Macrosporium Bra.s.sicae_. In his opinion the true cause of the alteration of the cauliflower is the humid gangrene, that is to say, a gummy degeneration and putrid fermentation of the tissues, caused by the abundance of manure in the soil and the excess of water in the plant at a time when it is subject to sudden changes of temperature.

”This disease is not confined to cauliflowers; it is common in all garden vegetables, and is of the same nature as that which attacks tomatoes and which was described by this author in the same journal in 1884.” [This disease is also mentioned by Victor Paquet, in his ”Plantes Potagers” (London, 1846, p. 243), where it is attributed to stagnant moisture].

[C] _Country Gentleman_, 1889, p. 769, (from the _Port Jefferson Times_, Sept. 27):

”Close upon the heels of a partial failure of the potato crop through rotting comes the news from various points on Eastern Long Island that the cauliflower crop has almost totally failed through the same cause.

In Manorville the crop has not sufficiently developed in some of the fields to warrant picking, and in Matt.i.tuck and east of that place the rotting will result in an almost total loss. In a few cases there is not yet any indication of rot, but the farmers are afraid to tie the plants up lest rotting ensue.

”In East Moriches, Orient, and the near vicinity, the yield will not be of sufficient value to pay for plowing the ground, not to speak of the other expenses which have been entailed. Through the Hamptons careful observations failed to reveal scarcely a single successful crop.

”Last Sat.u.r.day Henry T. Osborn, of East Moriches, tied up 2,000 heads and on Monday he cut enough to fill 30 barrels. He let them lie in his barn over night, and the next day not a barrel of them was fit for s.h.i.+pment to market.

”George Cooper, of Matt.i.tuck, planted seven acres of cauliflower which he thinks will prove a total loss. And so on the reports come from many East End farmers. The recent heavy rains are generally a.s.signed as the cause of the failure.”

[D] A series of articles upon ”damping off” may be found in the _American Garden_ for 1889, pp. 347-9.

CHAPTER VII.

CAULIFLOWER SEED.

With no vegetable is it more important to have good seed than with the cauliflower, and in none is there a greater tendency to deteriorate. On this account less dependence is to be placed upon named varieties than in some other cultivated plants, and greater need is required to secure carefully selected strains. Owing to peculiarities of soil, climate and season, and the different degrees of care given by the different growers, seeds of the same variety may be better from one source than from another. On this account, when a variety is found adapted to one's needs it is well to use the same variety, and obtain it from the same source year after year.

Cauliflower seed is mostly grown in Europe, chiefly in Holland and Germany, to some extent in Italy and France, and less in England. One variety, the Large Asiatic, seeds abundantly in Northern India. There are a few localities where the seed is successfully grown in the United States.

In Europe the dwarf early varieties are chiefly grown in the north, and the large late varieties at the south. In the south the seed is most easily grown, and southern seed brings the lowest price.

McIntosh states that cauliflower seed seldom ripens in Scotland. In England, as I have said, it is grown to a limited extent, but not so much as that of broccoli. The seed plants are there selected in June, at the time of heading, and allowed to stand until the seed matures. Mr.

Dean states that his Early s...o...b..ll produces in warm, early seasons better seed in England than anywhere else. Loudon, in his ”Encyclopaedia of Gardening” (5th Ed., 1827) quotes Neill, as saying that ”Until the time of the French Revolution, quant.i.ties of English cauliflower were regularly sent to Holland and the low countries, and even France depended on us for cauliflower seed. Even now English seed is preferred to any other.”

A later English writer states that the English prefer Dutch seed and the Dutch English seed.