"The expense and trouble are not over yet. The seed is ripening about the time our rainy season sets in, and we don't see the sun once a week on an average, so that our seed must all be dried by fire heat. Our dry-houses are 30 x 20 feet, and 18 feet high with 2 x 6 inch joists running across the houses in tiers, on which we hang the seeds for drying. A brick furnace is built in the middle of the house, with the flue running through the roof.
"We usually make three cuttings. As soon as the pods on the center stalks begin to turn yellow, and the seed a light brown, we make our first cutting. From one to three plants are put in a pile and tied with binding twine. The bundles are taken to the dry-house on wheelbarrows, made with racks on purpose for carrying the seeds. A cloth is spread over the rack to catch any shelling seeds. A man carries about 100 bunches at a load and passes them up to a man in the house who hangs them on nails driven for the purpose. The seed is allowed to hang a few days to thoroughly ripen before firing up. We aim to keep the heat in the top of the house at about 80° until the seed and stalks are dry.
"The bundles are now taken down and laid upon a cloth where they are crushed by walking on them. Grain sacks are then filled with the stalks and pods as full as they will tie up, and the contents are thrashed in the sacks with a flail. The seed is then sifted from the stalks and taken to the fanning-mill, and after putting it through the mill two or three times, we set the boys to rolling it. For this purpose we have a board two and a half feet long by one foot wide, with thin strips nailed on the sides to keep the seeds from rolling off. A boy sits down on a cloth with a pan of seed by his side, and holds one end of the board in his lap, while the other end rests on the cloth. He puts a handful of seed on the top end of the board and gently shakes it. All of the sound plump seeds run off on to the cloth, while the shriveled seeds, bits of stalk, dirt, weed seeds, etc., remain on the board. A smart Indian boy will clean ten pounds a day, at a cost of 50 cents and his board. Now the seed is sacked in double cotton sacks, holding about ten pounds each, and is ready for market."
In a subsequent paper the same writer said, in answer to inquiries upon the subject, that the cauliflower and cabbage readily mixed, but that there was little danger of their doing so in his locality, as the cabbage was nearly out of flower before the cauliflower began to blossom. To make the matter certain, however, boys were sent to every neighboring cabbage patch to clip off all straggling late blossoms that remained. Only one variety of cauliflower, or strains of one variety, is grown by him for seed in any one year.
The following letter from the same writer explains itself:
"Fidalgo, Washington, April 3, 1891.
"Mr. A. A. Crozier, Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Dear Sir:—Your letter of inquiry received. In answer would say, I am the original cauliflower raiser in the Puget Sound country. In 1882 I discovered that by wintering the plants over in cold-frame, and keeping them growing all winter, those that were transplanted without wilting would form heads, and then throw seed-stalks in time to form seed before frost, if they were continually wet with tepid water after heading. The first seed that was put on the market was sold by Francis Brill, Riverhead, L. I. Since then I have furnished some of the largest firms in the country with seed, and the seed has given perfect satisfaction. There is a secret in raising good seed that I don't care to give away. Several of my neighbors have tried to raise the seed, and I believe some of it has been put on the market, but it has proved inferior for the want of skill in knowing which heads to seed from, as all heads will not do to seed from, even though they may appear perfect to an inexperienced eye. It's skilled labor that produces No. 1 seed.
"I enclose you my circular, with reports from growers and dealers, also quite a few from the experiment stations. I have a large number that I have not printed, as they came too late for this year. The business has grown from a few pounds in 1882 to nearly 300 pounds in 1890. I think in the near future, that Puget Sound will grow all of the cauliflower seed that will be grown in the country. Cabbage seed is also grown to a large extent. I raised about two tons last year, and there probably will be ten tons raised on Puget Sound the coming summer.
"Cabbage and cauliflower are grown to a considerable extent both in Oregon and Washington, though California sends our first to this market.