Brussels sprout

“ Brussels sprouts are interesting in their growth. The plant stalk runs skyward. At the top, umbrella like, is a close head of leaves, but this is not what we eat. Shaded by the umbrella and packed all along the stalk are delicious little cabbages or sprouts. Like the rest of the family a rich soil is needed and plenty of water during the growing period. The seed should be planted in May, and the little plants transplanted into rich soil in late July. The rows should be eighteen inches apart, and the plants one foot apart in the rows. ”

“ For winter use in cold localities, take up plants that are well laden with heads and set them close together in a pit, cold frame, or cellar, with a little soil around the roots. The uses of Brussels sprouts are similar to those of cabbage, but they are considered to be of a superior flavor. They require the same treatment as cabbage. The soil must be rich and requires considerable moisture. The small sprouts must grow rapidly or they will be tough. Sow the seed in hotbed and transplant, or scatter seed in hills and thin. The plants must have plenty of room. ”

“ Like all members of the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts are gluttons and positively must have heavy and rich ground. Sow seed in shallow drills; transplant when seedlings are about three inches high, two feet apart in rows three feet apart. For early spring harvest, sow seeds in hotbed during February or March. Mature plants are 132 quite hardy, but must be dug up before severe frost. The best way to keep the home supply is to hang the whole plant up by the roots in a frost-proof cellar. ”

“ Giant "field-type" kohlrabi Small "market-garden" kohlrabi Mid-season savoy cabbage Cauliflower (regular, annual) Rutabaga Turnips and radishes Italian Broccoli (some varieties) Chinese cabbage Brussels Sprouts
Sowing date: If the plants are a foot tall before the soil starts drying down, their roots will be over a foot deep; the plants will then grow hugely with a bit of fertigation. At Elkton I dry garden Brussels sprouts by sowing late April to early May. Started this soon, even late-maturing varieties may begin forming sprouts by September. ”

“ When the Brussels sprouts had disappeared, there was a delay in the appearance of the dessert, and a spell of silence ensued. Out of doors the rain was beating down with still greater force, rattling noisily against the house. ”

“ Brussels sprouts have been gaining favour in the market during the last few years and should certainly be in every garden, for they possess all the healthful qualities of cabbage, and the flavour is much more delicate.
When small, the plants look exactly like cabbage, but instead of firm, solid heads, the stalks run up to twelve or fourteen inches in height, and baby cabbages spring out all around the stalk for the entire length. One plant often yields thirty-five or forty of these diminutive cabbages. ”

“ It is of little use where cauliflower can be grown, but serves as a substitute in northern sections, as it is more hardy than that vegetable. Early White French is the standard sort.
Brussels sprouts:—This vegetable, in my opinion, is altogether too little grown. It is as easy to grow as fall and winter cabbage, and while the yield is less, the quality is so much superior that for the home garden it certainly should be a favorite. Today (Jan. 19th) we had for dinner sprouts from a few old plants that had been left in transplanting boxes in an open coldframe. ”

“ To secure this vegetable in its best form, it must be grown on deeply-worked and rich ground. In addition, the seeds should be obtained from a good source, as there are many spurious stocks in cultivation. Plenty of room must be allowed the plants to develop, and the tops and leaves should not be removed till after the sprouts are gathered; dead leaves, of course, excepted. It is a bad plan to plant Brussels Sprouts amongst potatoes or other crops, as they become unduly weakened, and never give such good returns as when grown by themselves.
FIG. 286. BRYONIA LACINIOSA.
Soil and Cultivation. ”

“ Brussels sprouts:—These are improved by freezing, and may be used from the open garden until December. If wanted later, store them with cabbage, or hang up the stalks in bunches in a cold cellar.
Cabbage:—If only a few heads are to be stored, a cool cellar will do. Even if where they will be slightly frozen, they will not be injured, so long as they do not freeze and thaw repeatedly. They should not be taken in until there is danger of severe freezing, as they will keep better, and a little frost improves the flavor. ”

“ Brussels sprouts are the most delicate of all the borecoles, and it is a thousand pities that this delightful vegetable is not more often to be met with. These miniature, cabbages, however, require some little care in their rearing, and hence amateurs often fail to reach perfection in their cultivation. They may be boiled like cabbage, in abundance of water and a little salt for 15 minutes, then drained, dried, and finally tossed in butter with a little pepper and nutmeg. ”

“ The culture is the same as that of cabbages, except that as the savoys are large, they should be planted out in the bed where they are to cabbage, two feet apart every way. Brussels sprouts are a variety of the savoy cabbage; the plants first produce a small savoy on an elongated stalk, and when this is cut off, the long stalk throws out a number of little cabbages from its sides, which are the Brussels sprouts. The culture is the same as for the Savoys, except that the plants, as they do not spread, need not be more than a foot or eighteen inches apart every way ”

“ Transplant to the bottom of a south wall a portion of the peas sown in pots in frames in November and January for the first crop. Sow Brussels sprouts in gentle heat for an early crop.
Fruit Garden.—Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums, before the buds are much swelled; finish pruning apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, currants and raspberries, before the end of the month; also the dressing of vines. Keep the fruit-room free from spoiled fruit, and shut it close. Cut down the double-bearing raspberries to secure strong autumn-fruiting shoots. ”

“ Brussels sprouts are not without merit, and mushrooms, onions, cucumber, and vegetable marrow gain so much in flavour as to almost fulfil the harassed housewife's aspiration for a new discovery in vegetables. ”

“ Brussels Sprouts:—In my opinion this vegetable leaves the cabbage almost as far behind as the cauliflower does. It is, if anything, more easily grown than cabbage, except that the young plants do not seem able to stand quite so much cold. When mature, however, it seems to stand almost any amount of freezing, and it is greatly improved by a few smart frosts, although it is very good when succeeding the spring crop of cauliflower. It takes longer to mature than either cabbage or cauliflower. ”

“ Irrigation: Without any added moisture, the plants will become stunted but will survive all summer. Side-dressing manure or fertilizer late in September (or sooner if the rains come sooner) will provoke very rapid autumn growth and a surprisingly large yield from plants that looked stress out in August. If increasingly larger amounts of fertigation can be provided every two to three weeks, the lush Brussels sprouts plants can become 4 feet in diameter and 4 feet tall by October and yield enormously. ”

“ After being started and pricked off into flats, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets, lettuce, and celery are kept inside just long enough to get well established, and then put outside in a tight frame. Harden off as well as possible before putting out, as a freeze the first night might injure them. After that slight frost on the leaves will not injure them, but if they freeze stiff, apply cold water in the morning—ice-cold is just as good—and shade until they are thawed out. ”

“ It is very costly because of the extreme finenessÿof the threads. Ð Brussels lace, an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground. Ð Brussels net, an imitation of Brussels ground, made by machinery. Ð Brussels point. See Point lace. Ð Brussels sproutsÿ (Bot.) , a plant of the Cabbage family, which produces, in the axils of the upright stem, numerous small green heads, or 1⁄2sprouts, ̧ each a cabbage in miniature, of one or two inches in diameter ”

“ If fruit trees be planted, vegetables may be grown in rows. As soon as the early vegetables mature they are removed, and a midsummer crop planted. These are followed by a fall or winter crop.
Radishes, lettuce, and cabbage grow at the same time and on the area formerly used for one crop. Early potatoes and early cauliflower are followed by Brussels sprouts and celery, two crops being as easily grown as one by intelligent handling. The best beans are grown among fruit trees. ”

“ They can be boiled exactly like white cabbages, and are equal to them, if not superior, in flavour. To boil them, see CABBAGE, WHITE, LARGE.
Brussels Sprouts.—These must be first washed in cold water and all the little pieces of decayed leaves trimmed away. Throw them into boiling salted water; the water must be kept boiling the whole time, without a lid on the saucepan, and if the quantity of water be sufficiently large not to be taken off the boil by the sprouts being thrown in they will be sent to table of a far brighter green colour than otherwise. ”

“ There is something quite mysterious in this hazy light, this mist of dissolved sunbeams, this metallic vibrating and shimmering that illumines sober, grey old Brussels in the springtime, like a saint's nimbus. The statues in the park have lost their winter cowls of straw; through the trees, whose feathery foliage gives out a pleasant pungent spring odor, glide the sunbeams, outline the edge of a gnarled black bough with a streak of silver, paint broad spots of light on a mighty bole, slip gaily into the moist grass and play hide-and-seek among the transparent leaf-shadows. ”

“ Beautiful they are still, but for the most part they have been pitilessly scarified, and their beauty is like the faded beauty of death, cold, rigid, grey. Brussels, in a word, has lost her complexion, but he indeed would be a bold man who would set his hand to restore it. ”

“ Brussels had been a city for more than five centuries, and at that day numbered about one hundred thousand inhabitants. Its walls, six miles in circumference, were already two hundred years old. Unlike most Netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an abrupt promontory. A wide expanse of living verdure—cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields—flowed round it like a sea. ”

“ Brussels sits like a holiday-attired princess, proud and elegant, on the table-land of Brabant, gazing out freely, on all sides, over flourishing, fertile fields. The new portion of the city, with its royal palace, its beautiful park and tree-planted boulevards, broad streets, large market-place, handsome, well-built houses, produced the most cheerful effect. Cleanliness and elegance prevail everywhere. Wealth and elegance are united with a certain character of permanence and strength. We are in the head-quarters of Brussels lace. ”

“ Brussels is always associated in one's mind with its laces. We visited one of the manufactories. A dozen or twenty women were busy in a sunny, cheerful room, working out the pretty leaves and flowers, with needle and thread, for the point lace, or twisting the bobbins among the innumerable pins in the cushion before them to follow the pattern for the point appliqué. ”

“ The making of the great commercial and manufacturing centres of mediæval Belgium was for the most part and generally speaking in this wise, but they did not all of them come into being at the same time—not even in the course of the same century. As a rule the towns of Brabant are less ancient than the towns of Flanders, and most of them owe their development less to the river than to the road. It was so with Brussels and Louvain, and, to a certain extent also with Mechlin. ”

“ The Rye harvest is in progress through all this country, and is very good, but the breadth of Wheat is much greater, and it also promises well, though not yet ripened. Westward from [Pg 272] Brussels in Belgium is an extensive Grazing region, bountifully irrigated, and covered with large herds of fine cattle. Something of this is seen after crossing into France, but Wheat regains its predominance, while large tracts are devoted to the Beet, probably for the manufacture of Sugar. ”

“ The problem of purchasing the vegetables is so great that a special committee has been formed at Malines to buy for Brussels on the spot. One of the saving things for Belgium has been that she produces quantities of these delicious greens. In the smaller towns a committeeman usually goes each morning to market the day’s supply. For instance, the lawyer who occupies himself with the vegetables for the Charleroi soup, makes his own selection at four o’clock each morning, and is extravagantly proud of the quality of his carrots and lettuces! ”

“ Permanent pasture represented only 26% of cultivable land (65% in England) ; while on the other hand plants used for industrial purposes, root-crops and forage-crops which yield a much higher return in money, were largely cultivated.
Thus industrial crops occupied 95,000 hectares; forage, 292,000 hectares; orchards, 65,000 hectares; market gardens, 27,000 hectares; horticulture, practised especially in the environs of Brussels and Ghent, occupied 100,000 hectares, and provided a considerable export. As regards breeding, the export of Flemish horses brought in 50,000,000 francs. ”