In Holland, cauliflowers are grown not only for home use and for seed, but also for the early London market. Around London the cauliflower has been extensively grown for a longer time than anywhere else, and it is there regarded as one of the most important garden crops. A recent English writer says: "With the exception of the potato, I question whether there is another vegetable to be compared with the cauliflower for general usefulness." Hundreds of acres are devoted to it near London, a large portion being under glass for the early crop. Formerly the cauliflower crop was all cut and sent to market, with the exception of a small portion saved for seed; but of late, extensive fields are purchased entire by Crosse and Blackwell for pickling purposes. In the United States there are a few points where the growing of cauliflower for market is assuming considerable importance. On Long Island, in 1879, the crop was estimated by Oemler at 100,000 pounds, besides what was used for pickling. In 1885 Brill estimated the total crop of Suffolk County at about 125,000 barrels. In 1889, the value of the crop sold from Suffolk County was estimated at $200,000, nine-tenths of all the cauliflowers sent to the New York market being grown in that county. At Farmingdale and Central Park, in 1888, two pickle factories used five hundred barrels of cauliflowers, besides the usual proportion of other vegetables. Much of the crop from Long Island is now sent to markets beyond New York. Philadelphia receives but little good cauliflower except that which comes from Long Island. The same is true of the city of Washington. The receipts in the latter city from Long Island for the three fall months of 1890 were about 20,000 barrels. The Chicago market is seldom fully supplied with cauliflowers and the price there averages fully as good as anywhere in the country. Considerable amounts are grown near the city, and small quantities are shipped in from Michigan, Wisconsin, Central Illinois, and even from California. One pickle factory at Crystal Lake, near Chicago, contracted, in 1874, for 16 acres of cauliflowers, besides other produce. The pickle factories always furnish a market for any surplus when the price is low, or the heads have become disfigured in any way. In fact, the supply of home grown cauliflowers is always insufficient for pickling purposes, and large amounts have to be annually imported, notwithstanding the tariff, which, formerly ten per cent., ad valorum, is now forty-five per cent. Imported cauliflowers are brought mainly from Germany and Holland, and come packed in brine in 60 gallon casks. Large quantities of mixed pickles containing cauliflower are also imported. CHAPTER III. MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP. SOIL.