John Rogers, in his "Vegetable Cultivator" (London, 1843), said: "There are two varieties of the cauliflower, the early and the late, which are alike in their growth and size, only that the early kind, as the name implies, comes in about a week before the other, provided the true sort has been obtained. There is, however, no certainty of knowing this, unless by sowing the seed from the earliest sorts, as is the practice of the London kitchen gardeners. The early variety was grown for a number of years in the grounds called the Meat-house Gardens, at Millbank, near Chelsea, and was of a superior quality, and generally the first at market. The late variety is supposed to have originated from a stock for many years cultivated on a piece of ground called the Jamaica level, near Deptford, and which produced uncommonly fine heads, but later than those at Millbank. Both soils are nearly similar, being a deep rich loam, on a moist subsoil, and continually enriched with dung. Both the varieties are of a delicate nature, being generally too tender to resist the cold of the winter season without the occasional aid of glasses or other means; and the sight of many acres overspread with such glasses in the vicinity of London gives a stranger a forcible idea of the riches and luxury of the capital."
In France, in 1824, three varieties, differing mainly in earliness, were recognized, le dur, le demi-dur and le tendre. These names are still applied to well known French sorts.
Victor Paquet, in his Plantes Potagers, published at Paris in 1846, says: "The greater number of varieties of cauliflower are white, but some are green or reddish. They are cooked in water, and dressed with oil or white sauce. We cultivate two distinct varieties, tendre and demi-dur. The sub-varieties gros and petit Solomon are sorts of the tendre."
Thus we see that early in the present century there were sorts differing at least in time of maturity which had originated by selection; and, although history does not show it, we must infer that even then there were distinct differences in the cauliflowers cultivated in different parts of Europe. From this time on cauliflowers from various localities were brought more into public notice and greater efforts were made toward their improvement.
In 1845, C. M. Hovey, of Boston, said, that "the varieties of cauliflower have been greatly improved within a few years, and now not less than a dozen kinds are found in the catalogues." The most noted of those mentioned by him are Walcheren and Large Asiatic—varieties still in cultivation. Burr described ten sorts in 1863, and Vilmorin sixteen sorts in 1883. There are recorded in the present work the names of one hundred and forty varieties besides synonyms. Some of these varieties are no longer cultivated, and a few are too near other sorts to be considered worthy of a separate name; so that of the cauliflowers proper there may be said to be now in cultivation about one hundred distinct varieties.