BROCCOLI, a well-known and much esteemed garden vegetable, one of the many varieties which cultivation has produced of the brassica oteracea, the common kale or cabbage. B. is said to have been originally brought to Italy and other parts of Europe from the isle of Cyprus about the middle of the 16th century. Its name is probably of Italian origin. It differs little from cauliflower (q.v.), of which it may be considered a mere variety, having colored instead of white heads, and a deeper tinge of color in the leaves, being also more hardy, the character from which its chief importance is derived; as it can be readily obtained at seasons when there is no cauliflower in the open garden. It is perhaps inferior to cauliflower, however, in delicacy of flavor. There are many subvarieties, the number of which is, of course, continually increasing; and some of these are preferred for early spring sowing, with a view to an autumn crop; others for later sowing, with a view to a crop in the following spring.. The subvarieties differ in size, in their more cut or entire leaves, in the greater or less degree of color—generally pur ple—with which the leaves are tinged, in the more or less compact form of the whole plant, in the more or less green, yellow, or purple color of the head, etc. Some of the
kinds of B. preferred for late sowing and spring use are known by the general name of cape B., the first of them being said—but on doubtful authority—to have been intro duced into Britain from the cape of Good Hope. The mode of cultivation of B. pretty much resembles that of cauliflower, except as to the times of sowing and transplanting, and that it is generally—even in Scotland—sown in the open ground, and not in a hot bed. A similar richness of soil is required. Various modes of protection in winter are adopted. In mild winters, protection is scarcely or not at all needed, but precautions are generally employed against severe weather. It is found very advantageous to plant in trenches of 6 in. deep, and to earth up the plants, as they are thus not only in some measure preserved from frosts, but also from the winds of winter, which are apt to shake and loosen plants, so as to cause their destruction. It is a CO111111011 practice to take up some of the most advanced plants in the beginning of winter, and to lay them in a sloping position with their heads towards the north. The heads produced in this way are not in general so large as they might be, but they are somethnes procured when otherwise they probably would not.