Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-10-13
ARISTOCRATIC
CAULIFLOWER
Though Cousin to the Humble Cab
bage, It Has Always Been a
Dish for Epicures.
FORTUNES MADE BY GROWERS
Great Gardens on Iona Island That
Send Their Products Over Half
the Continent.


Jones at the hotel restaurant. as he
took up the bill of fare. Il perceive
that the season of edible flowers has
come around again.
Edible flowers" exclaimed his
friend
Il mean cauliflower," replied Jones
"and l don't intend a bad pun either
Though common enough article of
food, cauliflower is nothing more or
less than a cluster of metamorphos-
ed flowers"
The average man who partakes of
this palate tickling cousin of the cab
bage probably wastes little time in
wondering whether it is flower or
vegetable. But it is truly flower
So, while we have not yet reached
the luxury of the ancient Romans.
who consumed at their feasts nightin-
gales tongues-doubless their equiv
alent for the terrapin of our times
We still have become epicureans to the
extent of eating flowers, not at spec
ial feasts. but whenever we want
them.
Origin Of the Plant.
Just where the cauliflower came
from nobody seems to know The
ancient Greeks and Romans cultivat.
ed it, in the island of Cyprus, and on
the shores Of the Mediterranean it
was produced long before the Chris
tian era. and probably called by some
high sounding. polysyllabic name. But
We cannot get back to its origin. The
plant is close cousin of our common
cabbage. and on account of it's anci-
ent lineage probably ashamed of the
fact. looking upon its less aristocratic
relative of the garden condescending-
ly-and with good cause surely for
the cabbage is merely a vegetable.
while the cauliflower is a flower.
The caulihower seems to have
doomed unseen during the dark ages.
for though heads were falling right
and left. we find no mention of it.
Then. in the seventeenth century. its
cultivation began in England. The
fact is recorder that many heads of
cauliflower" were exported to Hol
land previous to the French revolu-
ton. History shows the Dutch were
fond Of foreign grown heads.
From its beginning in the British
Isles the growth of the cauliflower
spread rapidly TO the continent. and
today we find its cultivation the pur-
suit Of numberless small truck gar
deners throughout Europe The deli
cacy of the flavor of the fower-or
vegetable if YOU are a materialist-
creates tremendous demand for it in
the larger cities. In England and ev-
en- on some of the outlying islands.
many truck gardener earns good
living from the production of caulfow-
er for the large London markets.
Thousands and thousands of crates
are shipped to London annually, each
head wrapped in a separate piece of
tissue paper. as becomes it's delicacy
as a bloom.
England got the start of other coun-
tries in the production of the cauli-
flower. and the seed of the English
variety has been until recently far
and away the most popular all over
Europe and in this country. too for
the necessary annual planting But
history again denies us any informa-
ton as to the early progress of the
cauliflOwer in the United States. The
cabbage. its uncOuth. plebeian cousin,
came into early prominence on the
stage; the cauliflower has. however,
until of late years, remained modestly
in the background. It's cultivation in
this country at first amounted to lit
tie: few farmers here and there pro-
duced for the markets. but there was
no general production.
Even now there are cities, big cit.
les, in the middle west and south.
where the cauliflower is practically
unknown And though in the neigh
borhood of many large cities. such
as Chicago. Boston and San Francis.
co, there are extensive truck farms
on which cauliflower is grown for
home consumption, there are but two
distinct "cauliflower districts" in the
United States where the vegetable is
extensively grown and shipped to dis
tant markets. These, curiously enough.
are more than $500 miles apart, one
along the rich soiled borders of Puget
sound near the Pacific. and the 9th.
er in the low lying farm country in
the northeasterly portion of Long Is.
land, within view of the blue waters
Of the Atlantic.
Flourishes on Puget Sound.
In the Puget sound district the eau.
lif1ower has flourished since the rail.
roads have opened up the territory
and developed its advantages as a
truck garden district. Carloads of
caulif1ower are now shipped daily to
points along the Pacific coast and
towns to the eastward Still more re-
markable, though. is the caulifower
growing district on northeastern LONG
1sland-a strip of country four miles
wide and about 80 miles long, extend
ing from the little dip in the land
called Batting Hollow to where the
hustling little town Of Greenport lies
between Long Island sound and the
waters of its own deep harbor.
This is probably the busiest and
most prosperous truck farming area
in the country. An evidence of it,
prosperity is the fact that it has two
savings banks with deposits OF owe,
$5,O00,000 each and three other state
or national banks with accounts ot
from 100000 to half a million The
farmers are not at all like the I'm
prosperous, struggling agriculturists
of the old types They are up-to-dats
persons who make business Of farm
ing and find it good business. Som.
OF them ride about the smooth Lon,
Island roads in their own automo
biles. They have private telephon,
system with 1926 subscribers and ;
capitalization of 100000. One car
drive through the district from en-
IN vr-;% G,,ls ~