een gate ae FU Om aes Piper as . fy Library af Congress, Chup. PAD DA | Shelf ONRB Bo | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. th ce: iy Hine ‘ in] 4 bf De La te nat : Mi Dir Les Neth ca, ) 1 au it EHO) rn ha ‘ al) Liv, i ' tt ths voy Wed ay Asai iyi ‘i ut i i Mite Hinplie? ‘ahh tes CABBAGES: a — — a / HOW WTO GROW. THEM. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON CABBAGE CULTURE, GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEPING AND MARKETING THE CROP. | INTRODUCER OF THE MARBLEHEAD CABBAGES. BY | JAMES J. H. GREGORY, SABBAGKS ° HOW TO GROW THEM.- ae TAS A PRACTICAL G@reatise on Cabbage Culture, GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEP- ING AND MARKETING THE CROP. BY. sf JAMES J. H. GREGORY, INTRODUCER OF THE MARBLEHEAD CABBAGES., WS SALEM. MASS.: OBSERVER STEAM PRINTING ROOMS. 187O. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by JAMES J, H. GREGORY, At the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. COIN SD ebas eS Page. Object of Treatise a re os = 3 The Originof Cabbage - - - 3 WhataCabbageis” - : - 4 Selecting’ the: Solum. - |) -1, = 16 Preparing the Soil - - - 7 The Manure - - - - ams How to Apply the Manure - 10 Making the Hills and Planting the Seed - - - - - - @2 Care of the Young Plants ay) adie Protecting the Plants from their Enemies - - - - - 18 Club or Stump Foot - ayy ert S21 Care of the Growing Crop - - 26 Marketing the Crop - - - 27 Keeping Cabbages through Winter 29 Having Cabbage Make Heads in Winter . - - - - 35 Varieties of Cabbage- - Sanne Yi Early York - - - - 39 Large York - - - 4 39 Early Oxheart -~— - - - 40 Early Sugar Loaf - - - 40 Early Winnigstadt - - - 40 Red Dutch - - - - 44 Red Drumhead - - - - 41 The Little Pixie - - : 42 Early Schweinfurt or Schwein- furt Quintal - - . - 43 Early Wakefield - - - 44 Early Wyman_s- - - - 45 Premium Flat Dutch - - 45 Early Low Dutch - - - 46 Stone Mason- - - - 46 Large Late Drumhead - - 47 Marblehead Mammoth - - 48 American Green Glazed - - 49 0 way Page Fottler’s Early Drumhead - 49 Bergen Drumhead - - - 50 Cannon Ball - - - - 50 Savoy Cabbage - - - - 51 Drumhead Savoy - - = Ol Pancalier - - - - - 52 Early Ulm Savoy - - - 52 Early Dwarf Savoy - - ass Improved American Savoy - 53 Golden Savoy - - - - 53 Norwegian Savoy - - - 53 Victoria, Russian, Cape Savoys 5 Feather Stemmed Savoy - - 54 Large Brunswick Short Stemmed 54 Early Empress - - - - 54 Robinson’s Champion Ox Drumhe’d 54 English Winnigstadt - Be) ise Blenheim - - - - - - 54 Shillings Queen - - =i: ps 54 Carter’s Superfine Early Dwarf - 54 Enfield Market Improved - ~ 55 Kemp’s Incomparable - en) Fielderkraut - - =He ys - 55 Ramsay’s Winter Drumhead - - 55 Pomeranian Cabbage. - - 55 Alsacian Cabbage - - - - 55 Marbled Burgogne - - - 55 Early Dutch Drumhead - - - 5d The Little Dutchman - - - 56 Cabbage Greens - - - - 56 Cabbage for Stock - - : 58 Raising Cabbage Seed - - - 61 Cooking Cabbage, Sour Krout, &c. 62 Cabbage Under Glass = 5-9 64 Cold Frame and Hot Bed - - 66 Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Kale and Sea Kale 68 i } USM Lhd "Teak Nelo y Pe Mar Sy § EI Pitan ea aa Neh) = ‘ ie " ay ea tA! AIM ye ta ANA NE : Nae uli wh ai due hay prey) “y i OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE. As a general yet very thorough response to inquiries from many of my customers about cabbage raising, Thave aimed in this treatise to tell them all about the subject. L have endeavored to talk in a very practical way, drawing from a large observation and experience, and receiving, in describing varieties, some valuable information from McIntosh’s work, “‘ The Book of the Garden.” The dif- ferent inquiries made from time to time have given mea pretty clear idea of the many heads under which intorma- tion is wanted; and it has been my aim to give this with the same thoroughness of detail as in my little work on Squashes. THE ORIGIN OF CABBAGE. Boranists tell us that all of the Cabbage family, which includes not only every variety of cabbage, Red, White, and Savoy, but all the cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and brussels sprouts, had their origin in the wild cabbage of Europe, (Brassica oleracea,) a plant with green, wavy leaves, much resembling charlock, found growing wild at Dover in England, and other parts of Europe. This plant, says McIntosh, is mostly confined to the sea shore, and grows only on chalky or calcareous soils. Through the wisdom of the Great Father of us all, who oceasionally in his great garden allows vegetables to sport into a higher form of life, and grants to some of these sports sufficient strength of individuality to enable them to perpetuate themselves, and at times to blend their individuality with that of other sports, we “ CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. have the heading cabbage in its numerous varieties, the creamy caulifiower, the feathery kale, the curled savoy. The cultivated cabbage was first introduced into Great Britain by the Romans, and from England nearly all the kinds cultivated in this country were originally brought. Those which we consider as pecu- liarly American varieties have only been made so by years .of careful improvement on the original sorts. The characteristics of these varieties will be given farther on. WHAT A CABBAGE IS. lf we cut vertically through the middle of the head, we shall find it made up of successive layers of leaves, which grow smaller and smaller, almost ad tnfinitum. Now if we take a fruit bud from an apple tree and make a similar section of it, we shall find the same structure. If we cbserve the development of the two, as Spring advances, we shall find another similarity (the looser the head the closer will be the resemblance ),—the outer leaves of each will unwrap and unfold, and a blossom stem will push out from each. Hence we see that a cabbage is a bud, a seed bud, as all fruit buds may be termed, the production of seed being the primary object in nature, the fruit which encloses it playing but a secondary part, the office of the leaves being to cover, protect, and afterwards nourish the young seed shoot. The outer leaves which surround the head appear to have the same office as the leaves whieh surround the evrowing fruit bud, and that office closes with the first year, as does that of the leaves surrounding fruit buds, when each die and drop off. In my locality the public must have perceived more or less clearly the analogy CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. oD between the heads of cabbage and the buds of trees, for when they speak of small heads they frequently call them “buds.” That the close wrapped leaves which: make the cabbage head and surround the seed germ, situated just in the middle of the head at the ter- mination of the stump, are necessary for its protection and nutrition when young, is proved, I think, by the fact that those cabbages the heads of which are much decayed when set out for seed, no matter how sound the: seed germ may be at the end of the stump, never make so large or healthy a seed shoot as those do the heads of which are sound; as a 3 after pushing a feeble: growth, they die. For this reason I believe that the office of the head is similar to and as necessary as that of the leaves which unwrap from around the blossom buds of our fruit trees. It is true that the parallel cannot be fully maintained, as the leaves which make up the cabbage head do not to an equal degree unfold, (particularly is this true of hard heads ;) yet they exhibit a vitality of {heir own, which is seen in the deeper green color the outer leaves soon attain, and the change from tender- ness to toughness in their structure: I think, therefore, that the degree of failure in the parallel may be meas- ured by the difference between a higher and a lower form of organic life. Some advocate the economy of cutting off a large portion of the heads when cabbages are set out for seed to use as food for stock. There is certainly a great temptation, when standing amid acres of large, solid heads in the early Spring months, when green food of all kinds is scarce, to cut and use such an immense amount of rich food, which, to the inexperienced eye, 6 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. appears to be utterly wasted if left to decay, dry, and fall to the ground; but, for the reason given, I have never done sor It is possible that large heads may bear trimming to a degree without injury to the seed crop; yet I should consider this an experiment, and one to he tried with a good deal of caution. SELECTING THE SOIL. In some of the best cabbage growing sections of the country until within a comparatively few years it was the very general belief that cabbage would not do well on upland. Accordingly the cabbage patch would be found on the lowest tillage land of the farm. No doubt, the lowest soil being in its natural state the richer from a gradual accumulation of the wash from the up- land, when manure was but sparingly used cabbage would thrive better there than elsewhere,—and net, as was generally held, because’ that vegetable needed a moister soil than any other crop. Cabbage can he raised with suecess on any good corn land provided such land is well manured ; and there is no more loss in seasons of drouth on said land than there is in seasons of excessive moisture on the lower tillage land ofthe farm. I wish I could preach a very loud sermon to all my farmer friends on the great value of liberal manuring to carry crops successfully through the effects fa severe drouth. Crops on soil precisely alike, with but a wall to separate them, will in a very dry season present a striking difference,—the one being in fine vigor, and the other ‘“ suffering from drouth,” as the owner will tell you, in reality from want of food. The smaller varieties of cabbage will thrive well on CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. T either light or strong soil, but the largest drumheads do best on strong soil. For the Brassica family, including cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, etc., there is no soil so suitable as freshly turned sod, and it is well to have as stout a crop of clover or grass growing on this sod when turned under as possible ; and I incline to the belief that it. would be a judicious investment to start a thick erowth of these by the application of guano to the surface . sufficiently long before turning the sod to allow for its effects on the growth of the clover or grass. If the soil be very sandy in character, I would advise that the va- riety planted be the Winnigstadt, which in my experi- ence is unexcelled for making a hard head under almost any conditions, however unpropitious. Should the soil be naturally very wet it should be underdrained, or stump foot will be very likely to appear, which is death to all SUCCESS. PREPARING THE SOIL. Should the soil be a heavy clay, a deep Fall ploughing is best, that the frosts of Winter may disintegrate it ; and should the plan be to raise an early -crop, this end will be promoted by Fall ploughing, as the land will thereby be made dryer in early Spring. In New Eng- land the soil for cabbages should be ploughed as deep as the sub-soil, and the larger drumheads should be planted only on the deepest soil. Should the plan be to plant for a late crop, it will be best to plough sod land just before planting, that the crop may have the advantage of the growth of grass turned under, which > will help as manure towards feeding it. If the season should prove a favorable one, a good crop of cabbage as , CABBAGES, HOW TU GROW THEM, ETC. -may be grown on sod broken up immediately after a crop of hay has been taken from it. One great risk here is from the dry weather that usually prevails at that season, preventing the prompt germination of the seed or rooting of the plants. It is prudent in such a case to have a good stock of plants, that such as die may be promptly replaced. , The manure may be spread on the surface of either sod or stubble land and ploughed under, or he spread on the surface after ploughing and thoroughly worked into the soil by the gang plough or cultivator. On ploughed sod I have found nothing so satisfactory as Share’s harrow, which not only cuts the manure up fine and works it well under, but by the same operation can be made to cut and pulverize the turf until the sod is left not over an inch in thickness. To do the work thus thoroughly requires a yoke of oxen ora pair of stout horses. All large stones and large pieces of turf that are torn up and brought to the surface should be carted ot before making the hills. THE MANURE. Any manure but hog manure for cabbage,—barn manure, rotten kelp, night soil, guano, phosphates, wood ashes, fish, salt, glue waste, hen manure, slaughter-house manure. Ihave used all of these, and found them all eood when rightly applied. If pure hog manure is used it is apt to produce that corpulent enlargement of the roots known in different localities as ‘‘ stump foot,’ ‘‘ underground head,’ “ finger and thumb.’ I have found barn manure on which hogs have run, two hogs to each animal, excellent. The cabbage is the rankest CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 9 of feeders, and to perfect the larger sort a most liberal allowance of the richest composts is required. ‘To grow the smaller varieties either barn-yard manure, guano, phosphates, or wood ashes, if the soil be in good condition will answer; though the richer and more abundant the manure the larger are the cabbages, and the earlier the crop will mature. Asa rule, the richer manures are in ammonia the better they are for cabbage. To perfect the large varieties of drumhead—by which Imean to make them grow to the greatest size possible— I want a strong compost of barn-yard manure, with night soil and muck, and, if possible, rotten kelp. A compost into which night soil enters as a component is best made by first covering a plot of ground of easy access with soil or muck to the depth of about eighteen inches, and raising around this a rim about three feet in height, and thickness. Into this the night soil is poured from carts built for the purpose, until the receptacle is about two- thirds full. Barn manure is now added, being dropped around and covering the outer rim, and if the supply is sufficient on the top of the heap also, on which it can be carted after cold weather has set in. Harly in Spring the entire mass should be pitched over, thoroughly broken up with the bar and pick where frozen, and the frozen masses thrown on the surface. In pitching over the mass work the rim in towards the middle of the heap. After the frozen lumps have thawed give the heap another pitching over, aiming to mix all the materials thoroughly together, and make the entire mass as fine as possible. A covering of sand thrown over the heap before the last pitching will heip fine it. To produce a good crop of cabbages with a compost of this quality, from five to twelve cords will be required 10 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. tothe acre. Ifthe landis in good heart by previous high cultivation, or the soil is naturally very strong, five cords will give a-.fair crop of the small varieties ; while, with the same conditions, from nine to twelve cords to the acre will be required to perfect the largest variety grown, the Marblehead Mammoth drumhead. Of the other kinds of manure named above I will treat farther under the head of HOW TO APPLY THE MANURE. The manure is sometimes applied wholly in the hill, at other times partly broadcast and partly in the hill. If the farmer desires to make the utmost use of his ma- nure for that season, it will be best to put most of it into the hill, particularly if his supply runs rather short ; but if he desires to leave his land in good condition for next year’s crop, he had better use part of it broadcast. My own practice is to use all my rich compost broadcast, and depend on guano, phosphates, or hen manure in the hill. Let all guano, if at all lumpy, like the Peruvian, be sifted, and let all the hard lumps be’ reduced by pounding, until the largest pieces shall not be larger than half a pea, before it is brought upon the ground. My land being -ready, the compost worked under and the rows marked out, I select three trusty hands who can be re- lied upon to follow faithfully my directions in applying so dangerous manure as guano is in careless or ignorant hands: one takes a bucket of it, and, if for large cabbage, drops as much as he can readily close in his hand where each hill is to be ; if for small sorts, then about half that quantity, spreading it over a circle about a foot in diam- eter; the second man follows with a pronged hoe, or 4 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. if bom better yet a six-tined fork, with which he works the guano well into the soil, first turning it three or four inches under the surface, and then stirring the soil very thoroughly with the hoe or fork. Unlessthe guano (and this is true also of most phosphates) is faithfully mixed up with the soil, the seed will not vegetate. Give the second man about an hour the start, and then let the third man follow with the seed. Of phosphates 1 use about half as much again as of guano to each hill, and of hen | manure a heaping handful, after it has been finely broken up, and, if moist, slightly mixed with dry earth. I have found Cumberland phosphate, manufactured at Portland, Maine, Baugh’s phosphate, Pacific guano, each excellent of its kind. When salt is used, it should not be depended on exclusively, but be used in connection with other manures at the rate of from ten to fifteen bushels to the acre, applied broadcast over the ground, or thoroughly mixed with the manure before that is applied; if dissolved in the manure, better yet. Fish and glue waste are exceedingly powerful ma- nures, very rich in ammonia, and if used the first season they should be in compost. It is best to handle fish waste, such as heads, entrails, backbones and liver waste, precisely like night soil. ‘‘ Poggy cheese”? or “‘ chum,” the refuse after pressing out the oil from menhaden, and now sold extensively along the sea coast for manure, is best prepared for use by composting it with muck or loam, layer with layer, at the rate of a barrel to every foot and a half, cord measure, of soil. As soon as it shows some heat turn it, and repeat the process two or three times, until it is well decomposed, when apply. Glue waste is a very coarse, lumpy manure, and requires a great deal of severe manipulation if it is to be applied 12 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. the first season. A better way is to compost it with soil, layer with layer, having each layer about a foot in. thickness, and so allow it to remain over until the next season before using. This will decompose most of the straw, and break down the hard, tough lumps. In applying this to the crop, most of it had better be used broadcast, as it is apt at best to be rather too coarse and concentrated to be used liberally directly in the hill.. Slaughter-house manure should be treated much like glue manure. MAKING THE HILLS AND PLANTING THE SEED. The idea is quite prevalent that cabbages will not head up well except the plants be started in beds and then transplanted into the hills where they are to mature. This is an error, so far as it applies to the northern States ;—the largest and most experienced cultivators of cabbage in New England usually drop the seed di- rectly where the plants are to stand, unless they are first started under glass, or the piece of land to be planted cannot be prepared in season to enable the farmer to put his seed directly in the hill and yet give the cabbage time sufficient to mature. Where the climate is unpropitious, or the quantity of manure applied is insufficient, it 1s possible that transplanting may promote heading. The advantages of planting directly in the hill are a saving of time, avoiding the risks incidental to transplanting, and having all the piece start alike; for when transplanted many die and have to be replaced, while some hesitate much longer than others before starting, thus making a want of uniformity in the maturing of the crop. There is also this a CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 13 advantage, there being several plants in each hill, the cut-worm has to depredate pretty severely before he really injures the piece; again, should the seed not vegetate in any of the hills, every farmer will appreciate the advantage of having healthy plants growing so near at hand that they can. be transferred to the vacant spaces with their roots so undisturbed that their growth is hardly checked. In addition to the labor of trans- planting saved by this plan, the great check that plants always receive when so treated is prevented, and also the extra risks that occur should a season of drouth follow. : Some of our best farmers drill their seed in with a sowing machine, such as is used for onions, carrots, and other vegetable crops. This is a very expeditious way, and has the advantage of leaving the plants in rows instead of bunches, as in the hill system, and thus enables the hoe to do most of the work of thinning. It has also this advantage, each plant being by itself can be left much longer before thinning, and yet not grow long in thestump, thus making it available for transplanting, or for sale in the market, for a longer period.¢ | The usual way of preparing the hills is to strike out furrows with a small, one-horse plough, as far apart as the rows are to be. As it is very important that the rows should be as straight as practicable, it is a good plan to run back once in each furrow, particularly on sod land where the plough will be apt to catch in the turf and jump out of line. A manure team follows, containing the dressing for the hills, which has previously been pitched over and beaten up until all the a ingredients are fine and well mixed. This team is so — i l ca ara CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. driven, if possible, as to avoid running in the furrows. Two or three hands follow with forks or shovels, pitching the manure into the furrows at the distance apart that has been determined on for the hills. The manure is leveled with hoes, a little soil is drawn over it, and a slight stamp with the back of the hoe is given to level this soil and at the same time to mark the hill. The planter follows with seed in a tin box, or any small vessel having a broad bottom, and taking a small pinch between the thumb and fore finger he gives a slight scratch with the remaining fingers of the same hand, and dropping in about half a dozen seed covers them half an inch deep with a sweep of the hand, and packs the earth by a gentle pat with the open palm to keep the moisture in the eround and thus promote the vegetation of the seed. With care a quarter of a pound of seed will plant an acre, when dropped directly in the hills; but half « pound is the common allowance, as there is usually some waste from spilling; while most laborers plant with afree hand, The soil over the hills being very light and porous, careless hands are apt to drop the seed too deep. Care should be taken not to drop the seed all in one spot, but to scatter them over a surface of two or three inches square, that each plant may have room to develop without crowding its neighbors. If the seed is to be drilled in, it will be necessary to scatter the manure all along the furrows, then cover with a plough, roughly leveling with a rake. Should the compost applied to the hills be very concentrated, it will be apt to produce stump foot; it will therefore be safest in such cases to hollow out the middle with the corner of the hoe, or draw the hoe through and fill in with earth, that the roots of the CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 15 young plants may not come in direct contact with the compost as soon as they begin to push. When guano or phosphates are used in the hills it will be well to mark out the rows with a plough, and then, where each hill is to be, fill in the soil level to the surface with a hoe, before applying them. I have ina - previous paragraph given full instructions how to apply these. Hen manure, if moist, should be broken up very fine, and be mixed with some dry earth to prevent it from again lumping together, and then applied at the rate of a heaping handful of pure hen manure to each hill. Any liquid manure, including soap soads, 1s ex- cellent for the cabbage crop; but it should be well diluted, or it will be likely to produce stump foot. Cabbage seed of almost all varieties are nearly round in form, but are not so spherical as turnip seed. I note, however, that seed of the Improved American Savoy is nearly oval. In color they are light brown when first gathered, but gradually turn dark brown if not gathered too early. An ounce contains nearly ten thousand seed, but should not be relied upon for . many over two thousand good plants, and these are available for about as many hills only when raised in beds and transplanted; when dropped directly in the hills it will take not far from eight ounces of the larger sorts to plant an acre, and of the smaller cabbage more than this. Cabbage seed when well cured and kept in close bags will retain their vitality four or five years ; and old gardeners prefer seed of all the cabbage family two or three years old. When the plan is to raise the young plants in beds to be transplanted, the ground selected for the beds should be of rich soil ; this should be very thoroughly dug, and the surface worked and raked very fine, every stone and lump of earth being removed. Now sprinkle 16 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. the seed evenly over the bed and gently rake in jusi under the surface, compacting the soil by pressure with a board. As soon as the young plants appear, sprinkle them with air-slaked lime. Transplant when three or four inches high, being very careful not to let the plant get tall and weak. ; For late cabbage, in the latitude of Boston, the Mar- blehead Mammoth should be planted from the 20th to the 50th of May, other late drumheads from June Ist to June 12th, provided the plants are not to be trans- planted ; otherwise a week earlier, the growing season closing about the first of November. In those localities where the growing season is later, the seed should be planted proportionally later. CARE OF THE YOUNG PLANTS. In four or five days, if the weather is propitious, the young plants will begin to break ground, presenting at the surface two leaves, which together make nearly a square, like the first leaves of turnips or radishes. “As soon as the third leaf is developed, go over the piece and boldly thin ont the plants. Wherever they are very thick, pull a mass of them with the fingers and thumb, being careful to fill up the hole made with fine earth. After the fourth leaf is developed, go over the piece again and thin still more; you need specially to guard against a slender, weak growth, which will happen when the plants are too crowded. In thinning, leave the short-stumped plants, and leave them as tar apart in the hill as possible, that they may not shade each other, or so interfere in growing as to make long stumps. If there is any market for young plants, thou- sands can be sold from. an acre when the seed are planted in the hill; but in doing this bear in mind that your principal object is to raise cabbages, and to succeed CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. i in this the young plants must on no account be allowed to stand so long together in the hills as to crowd each other, making a tall, weak, slender growth,—getting long legged, as the farmers call it. If the manure in any of the hills is too strong, the fact will be known by its effects on the plants, which will be checked in their growth, and be of a darker green color than the healthy plants. Gently pull away the earth from the roots of such with the fingers, and draw around fresh earth; or, what is as well or better, trans- plant a healthy plant just on the edge of the Ill. When the plants are finger high they are of a good size to transplant into such hills as have missed, or to market. When transplanting, select a rainy day if possible, and do not begin Until sufficient rain has fallen to moisten the earth around the roots, which will make it more likely to adhere to them when taken up. Take up the young plants by running the finger or a trowel under them ; put these into a flat basket or box, and in trans- planting set them to the same depth they originally grew, pressing the earth a little about the roots. Tf it is necessary to do the transplanting: in a dry spell, as usually happens, select the latter part of the afternoon, if practicable, and first make holes with a dibble or any pointed stick an inch and a half in diam- eter, and fill these holes, a score or more at a time, with water ; and then as soon as the water is about soaked away, beginning at the hole first filled, set out your plants. The evaporation of the moisture below the roots will keep them moist until they get a hold. Cabbage plants have great tenacity of life, and will rally and grow when they appear to be dead ; the leaves may all die, and dry up like hay, but if the stump stands erect and the unfolded leaf at the top of the stump is 18 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. alive, the plant will usually survive. Some advocate wilting the plants before transplanting ; others challenge their vigor by making ita rule to do all transplanting under the heat of mid-day. J think there is not much of reason in either course. PROTECTING THE PLANTS FROM THEIR ENE- MIES. As soon as they have broken through the soil an enemy awaits them in the small black insect commonly known as the cabbage or turnip fly, beetle, or flea. This insect, though so small as to appear to the eye as a black dot, is very voracious and surprisingly active. He apparently feeds on the juice of the young plant, perforating it with small holes the size of a pin point. He isso active when disturbed that his motions cannot be followed by the eye, and his sense of danger is so keen that only by cautiously approaching the plant can he be seen at all. The delay. of a single day in protecting the young plants from his ravages will sometimes be the destruction of nearly the entire piece. Wood ashes and air-slaked lime, sprinkled upon the plants while the leaves .are moist from either rain or dew, afford almost complete protection. Iam not certain that the alkaline nature of these affords the protection, or whether a mere cover- ing by common dust might not answer equally well. Should the covering be washed off by rain, apply it anew immediately after the rain has ceased, and so continue to keep the young plants covered until the third or fourth leaves appear, when they will have become too tough to serve as food for this insect enemy. A new enemy much dreaded by all cabbage raisers will begin to make his appearance at about the time the flea CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. Ly disappears, known as the cut worm. This worm is of a dusky brown color, with a dark colored head, and varies in size up to about two inches in length. He burrows in the ground just below the surface, is slow of motion, and does his mischievous work at night. He gnaws off the young plants close at the surface of the ground. This enemy is hard to battle with. If the patch be small, these worms can be scratched out of their hiding places by pulling the earth carefully away the following morning for a few inches around the stump of the plant destroyed, when the rascals will usually be found half coiled together. Dropping a little wood ashes around the plants close to the stumps is one of the best of remedies; its alkaline properties burning his nose I presume. A tunnel of paper put around the stump but not touching it, and sunk just below the surface, is recommended as efficacious; and from the habits of the worm I should think it would prove so. Late planted cabbage will suffer little or none from this pest, as he disappears about the middle of June. Some seasons they are remarkably numerous ; making it necessary to replant portions of the cabbage patch several thnes over. I have heard of as many as twenty being dug at different times the same season out of one cabbage hill. The farmer who tilled that patch earned his dollars. When the cabbage has a stump the size of a pipe stem it is beyond the destruc- tive ravages of the cut worm, and should it escape stump foot has usually quite a period of growth free from the attacks of enemies. Should the season prove aunpropitious and the plant be checked in its growth, it will be apt to become “ lousy,” as the farmers term it, referring to its condition when attacked by a small green insect known as aphid, which preys upon it in 20 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. myriads; when this is the case the leaves lose their bright green, turn of a bluish cast, the leaf stocks lose somewhat of their supporting powers, the leaves curl up into irregular shapes, and the lower layer turns black and drops off, while the ground under the plant appears covered with the casts or- bodies of the insects as with a white powder. Taken altogether, the plants are in rather a bad way. Considering the circumstances under which this in- sect appears, I hold that it is rather the product than the cause of disease, as with the bark louse on our apple trees; as a remedy I advocate sprinkling the plants with air-slaked lime, and a frequent and thorough stirring of the soil with the cultivator and hoe. The better the opportunities the cabbages have to develop themselves through high manuring, good drainage,, and thorough cultivation, the less liable they are to be “lousy.” As the season advances there will sometimes be found patches eaten out of the leaves, leaving nothing but the skeleton of leaf veins; an examination will show a band of caterpillars of a light green color at work, who feed in a compact mass, oftentimes a square, with as much regularity as though under the best of military discipline. The readiest way to dispose of them is to break off the leaf and crush them under foot. The common large red caterpillar occasionally preys on the plants, eating large holes in the leaves especially about the head. When the cabbage plot is bordered by grass land, in seasons when grasshoppers are plenty, they will frequently destroy the outer rows, puncturing the leaves with small holes and feeding on, them until little besides their skeletons remain. In isolated locations rabbits and other vegetable feeders sometimes commit depredations. The snare and the shot gun are the remedy for these. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 21 Other insects that prey upon the cabbage tribe, in their caterpillar state, are the cabbage moth, white-line brown-eyed moth, large white garden butterfly, white and green veined butterfly. All of these produce cater- pillars which can be destroyed either by application of air-slaked lime, or by removing the leaves infested and crushing the intruders under foot. The cabbage fly, father-long-legs, the millipedes, the blue cabbage fly, brassy cabbage flea, and two or three other insect enemies are mentioned by McIntosh as infesting the cabbage fields of England; also three species of fungi known as white rust, mildew, and cylindrosporium concentricum ; these last are destroyed by the sprinkling of air-slaked ime on the leaves. In this country, along the sea coast of the northern section, in open ground cultivation there is comparatively but little injury done by these marauders, which are the cause of so much annovance and loss to our English cousins. CLUB OR STUMP FOOT. The great dread of every cabbage grower is a disease of the branching roots producing a bunchy, gland-like enlargement, known in different localities under the name of club foot, stump foot, underground head, finger and thumb. The result is a check in the ascent of the sap, which causes a defective vitality. There are two theories as to the origin of club foot: one that it is a disease caused by poor soil, bad cultivation, and unsuitable manures; the other that the injury is done by an insect enemy, Curculio contractus. This insect, ‘‘ piercing the skin of the root, deposits its eggs in the holes, lives during a time on the sap of the plant, and then escapes and buries itself for a time in the soil.” 22 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. If the wart or gland like excrescence is seen while transplanting, throw all such plants away unless your supply is short ; in such case carefully trim off all the diseased portions with a sharp knife. If the disease is in the growing crop, it will be made evident by the drooping of the leaves under the mid-day sun, leaves of diseased plants drooping more than those of healthy ones, while they will usually have a bluer cast. Should this disease show itself, set the cultivator going immedi- ately, and follow with the hoe, drawing up fresh earth around the plants, which will encourage them to form new fibrous roots; should they do this freely the plants will be saved, as the attacks of the insect are usually confined to the coarse branching roots. Should the dis- ease prevail as:late as when the plants have reached half their growth, the chances are decidedly against raising a paying crop. When the land planted is too wet, or the manure in the hill is too strong, this dreaded disease is liable to be found on any soil; but it is most likely to manifest itself on soils that have been previously cropped-with cabbage, turnip, or some other member of the Brassica family. Farmers find that as arule itis not safe to follow cabbage, ruta baga, or any of the Brassica family, with _ cabbage, unless three or four years have intervened be- tween the crops; and I have known an instance in growing the Marblehead Mammoth, where, though five years had intervened, that portion of the piece occupied by the previous crop could be distinctly marked off by the presence of club foot. Singular as it may appear, old gardens are an excep- tion to this rule. While it is next to impossible to raise in old gardens a fair turnip free from club foot, cab- bages can be raised year after year on the same soil CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 23 with impunity, or at least with but trifling injury from that disease. This seems to prove, contrary to English authority, that club foot in the turnip tribe is the effect of a different cause from the same disease in the cab- bage family. There is another position taken by Stephens in his ‘‘ Book of the Farm,” which facts seem to disprove. He puts forth the theory that ‘all such diseases arise from poverty of the soil, either from want of manure when the soil is naturally poor, or rendered effete by over-cropping.” There is a farm on a neck of land be- longing to this town which has peculiar advantages for collecting sea kelp and sea moss, and these manures are there used most liberally, particularly for the cultivation of cabbage, from eight to twelve cords of rotten kelp, which is stronger than barn manure and more suitable food for cabbage, being used to the acre. A few years ago, on a change of tenants, the new incumbent heavily manured a piece for cabbage and planted it; but as’ the season advanced stump foot developed in every cabbage on one side of the piece, while all the remainder were healthy. Upon inquiry he learned that by mistake he had overlapped the cabbage plot of last season just so far as the stump foot extended. In this instance it could not have been that the cabbage suffered for want of food, for not only was the piece heavily manured that year and the year previous, but it had been liberally manured through a series of years, and to a large ex- tent with the manure which of all others the cabbage tribe delight in, rotten kelp and sea mosses. I have known other instances where soil naturally quite strong and kept heavily manured for a series of years has shown stump foot when cabbage were planted with intervals of two and three years between. My theory 24 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. is that the mere presence of the cabbage causes stump foot on succeeding crops grown on the same soil. This is proved by the fact that where a piece of land in grass, close adjoining a piece of growing cabbage, had been used for stripping them for market, when this was broken up the next season and planted to cabbage, stump foot appeared only on that portion where the waste leaves fell the year previous. J have another instance to the same point, told me by an observing farmer, that on a piece of sod land on which he run his cultivator the year previous when turning his horse every time he had cultivated a row, he had stump footed cabbage the next season just as far as that cultivator went, dragging of course a few leaves and a little earth from the cab- bage piece with it. Still, though the mere presence of cabbage causes stump foot, it is a fact that under certain conditions cabbage can be grown on the same piece of land year after year successfully, with but very ‘little trouble from stump foot. In this town (Marble- head) though, as I have stated, we cannot on our farms follow cabbage with cabbage, even with the highest of manuring and cultivation, yet in the gardens of the town, on the same kind of soil, (and our soil is green stone and syenite, not naturally containing lime,) there are instances where cabbage have been successfully fol- lowed by cabbage on the same spot for a quarter of a century and more. In the garden of an aged citizen of this town, cabbages have been raised on the same land for over half a century. The cause of stump foot cannot therefore be found in the poverty of the soil, either from want of manure or its having been rendered effete from over-cropping. It is evident that by long cultivation soils gradually have diffused through them something that proves inimical CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 25 to the disease or insects that produce stump foot. It is probable that the protection is afforded by the pres- ence of some,alkali that old gardens are constantly ac- quiring through house waste which is always finding its way there, particularly the slops from the sink, which abound in potash. This is rendered further probable from the fact given by Mr. Peter Henderson, that, on soils in his vicinity, naturally abounding in lime, cabbage can be raised year following year with almost immunity from stump foot. He ascribes this to the effects of lime in the soil derived from marine shells, and recommends that lime from bones be used to secure the same protec- tion ; but the lime that enters into the composition of marine shells is for the most part carbonate of time, whereas the greater portion of that which enters into the composition of bones is phosphate of lime. Com- mon air-slaked iime is almost pure carbonate of lime, and hence comes nearer to the composition of marine shells than lime from bones, and, being much cheaper, would appear to be preferable. An able farmer told me that by using wood ashes liberally he could follow with cabbage the next season on the same piece. An experiment of my own in this direction did not prove successful, where ashes at the rate of two hundred bushels to the acre were used ; and I have an impression that.I have read of 2 like want of success after quite liberal applications of lime. Still, it remains evident, I think, that nature prevents stump foot by the diffusing of alkalies through the soil, and I mistrust that the reason why we some- times fail with the same remedies is that we have them mixed, rather than intimately combined, with all the particles of soil. As [have stated under another head, an attack of 26 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. club foot is almost sure to follow the use of pure hog manure, whether it be used broadcast or in- the hill. About ten years ago I ventured to use hog manure nearly pure, spread broadcast and ploughed in. Stump foot soon showed itself. I cultivated and hoed the cabbage thoroughly ; then, as they still appeared sickly, I had the entire piece thoroughly dug over with a six-tined fork, pushing it as deep or deeper into the soil than the plough had gone, to bring up the manure to the surface; but all was of no use; I lost the entire crop: yet on another occasion stable manure on which hogs had been kept, at the rate of two hogs to each animal, gave me one of the finest lots of cabbage I ever raised. , CARE OF THE GROWING CROP. As soon as the young plants are large enough to be seen with the naked eye, in with the cultivator and go and return once in each row, being careful not to have any lumps of earth cover the plants. Follow the cultivator immediately with the hoe, loosening the soil about the hills. The old rule with farmers is to culti- vate and hoe cabbage three times during their growth, and it is a rule that works very well where the crop is in good growing condition ; but if the manure is deficient, the soil bakes, or the plants show signs of disease, then cultivate and hoe once or twice extra. ‘ Hoe cabbage when wet,’ is another farmer’s axiom. In a small garden patch the soil may be stirred among the plants as often as may be convenient, it can do no harm ; cab- bages relish tending; though it is not necessary to do this every day, as one enthusiastic cultivator evidently thought, who declared that by hoeing his cabbages every morning he had succeeded in raising capital heads. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 27 If a season of drouth occurs when the cabbages have begun to head, the heads will harden prematurely ; and then should a heavy rain fall, they will start to make a new growth, and the consequence will be many of them will split. Split or bursted cabbage are a source of oreat loss to the farmer, and this should be carefully euarded against by going frequently over the piece when the heads are setting, and starting every cabbage that appears to be about mature. A stout potato hoe applied just under the leaves, and a pull given sufficient to start the roots on one side, will accomplish what iS needed. If cabbage that have once been started seem still inclined to burst, start the roots on the other side. Instead of a hoe they may be pushed over with the foot, or with the hand. Frequently, heads that are started will grow to double the size they had attained when about to burst. MARKETING THE CROP. When preparing for market cabbages that have been kept over Winter, particularly if they are marketed late in the season, the edges of the leaves of some of the heads will be found to be more or less decayed; do .not strip such leaves off, but with a sharp knife cut clean off the decayed edges. The earlier the variety the sooner it needs to be marketed, for as a rule cabbages push their shoots in the Spring in the order of their earliness. If they have not been sufficiently protected from the cold, the stumps will often rot off close to the head, and sometimes the rot will include the part of the stump that enters the head. If the watery looking por- tion. can be cut clean out, the head is salable ; otherwise it will be apt to have an unpleasant flavor when cooked. 28 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. As arule, cabbages for marketing should be trimmed into as compact a form as possible ; the heads should be cut off close to the stump, leaving two or three spare leaves to protect them. They may be brought out of the piece in bushel baskets, and be piled on the wagon as high as a hay stack, being kept in place by a stout can- vas sheet tied closely down. In the markets of Boston in the Fall of the year they are usually sold at a price agreed upon by the hundred head; this will vary not only with the size and quality of the cabbage, but with the season, the crop, and the quality in market on that particular day. Within a few years | have known the range of price for the Stone Mason cabbage equal in size and quality, to be from $3 to $17 per hundred; for the Marblehead Mammoth from $8 to $25 per hundred ; the average price in Boston market for Stone Mason cabbage at the height of the cabbage season for the few past years, has been from $6 to $8 per hundred. Cabbages brought to market in the Spring are usually sold by weight or by the barrel, at from $1.50 to $4 per hundred pounds. The earliest cabbages carried to market sometimes bring extraordinary prices ; and this has.created a keen competition among market gardeners, each striving to produce the earliest, a difference of a week in market- ing oftentimes making a difference of one half in the profits of the crop. Capt. Wyman, who controlled the Karly Wyman cabbage for several years, sold some seasons thirty thousand heads, if my memory serves me, at pretty much his own price. As a rule, it is the very early and the very late cabbages that sell most profitably. Should the market for very late cabbages prove a poor one, the farmer is not compelled to sell them, no matter at what sacrifice, as would be the case CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 29 a month earlier; he can pit them, and so keep them over to the early Spring market, which is almost always a profitable one. In marketing in Spring it should be the aim to make sale before the crops of Spring greens be- come plenty, as these replace the cabbage on many tables. By starting cabbage in hot beds a crop of celery or squashes may follow them the same season. KEEPING CABBAGES THROUGH THE WINTER. Tn the comparatively mild climate of England, where there are but few days in the Winter months that the ground remains frozen to any depth, the hardy cabbage grows all seasons of the year, and turnips left during Winter standing in the ground are fed to sheep by yard- ing them over the different portions of the field. With the same impunity, in the southern portion of our own country the cabbages are left unprotected during the Winter months; and, in the’warmer portions of the South they are principally a Winter crop. As we ad- vance farther north, we find that the degree of protec- tion needed is afforded by running the plough along each side of the rows, turning the earth against them, and dropping a little litter on top of the heads. As we advance still farther northward, we find sufficient pro- tection given by but little more than a rough roof of boards thrown over the heads, after removing the cab- bages to a sheltered spot and setting them in the ground as near together as they will stand without being in contact, with the tops of the heads just level with the surface. In the latitude of New England, cabbages are not secure from injury from frost with less than a foot of earth thrown over the heads. In mild Winters a cover- * 50 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. ing of half that depth will be sufficient; but as we have no prophets to foretell our mild Winters, a foot of earth is safer than six inches. Where eel grass can be pro- cured along the sea coast, or there is straw or coarse hay to spare, the better plan is to cover with about six inches of earth, and when this is frozen sufficiently hard to bear a man’s weight (which is usually about Thanksgiving time) to scatter over it the eel grass, straw, or coarse hay, to the depth of another six inches. In keeping cab- bages through the Winter, three general facts should be borne in mind, viz.: that repeated freezing and thawing will cause them to rot; that excessive moisture or warmth will also cause rot ; while a dry air, such as is found in most cellars, will abstract moisture from the leaves, in- jure the flavor of the cabbage, and cause some of the heads to wilt and the harder heads to waste. In the Middle States we have mostly to fear the wet of Winter, and the plan for keeping for that section should there- fore have particularly in view protection from moisture, while in the northern States we have to fear the cold of Winter, and consequently our plan must there have specially in view protection from cold. When storing for Winter, select a dry day, if possible sufficiently long after rainy weather to have the leaves free of water,—otherwise they will spout it on to you, and make you the wettest and mudiest scarecrow ever seen off a farm,—then strip all the outer leaves from the head but the two last rows, which are needed to protect it. This may be readily done by drawing in these two rows towards the head with the left hand, while a blow is struck against the remaining leaves with the fist of the right hand. Next pull up the cabbage, which, if they are of the largest varieties, may be expeditiously done by a potato hoe. If they CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 31 are not intended for seed purposes, stand the heads down and stumps up until the earth on the roots is somewhat dry, when it can be mostly removed by sharp blows against the stump given with a stout stick. In loading do not bruise the heads. Select the place for keeping them in a dry, level location, and if in the North a southern exposure, where no water can stand and there can be no wash. To make the pit, run the " plough along from two to four furrows, and throw out the soil with the shovel to the requisite depth, which may be from six inches to two feet; now if the design is to roof over the pit, the cabbages may be put in as thickly as they will stand ; if the heads are solid they may be either head up or stump up, and two layers deep; but if the heads are soft, then heads up and one deep, and not crowded very close that they may have room to make heads during the Winter. Having exca- vated an area twelve by six feet, set-a couple of posts -in the ground midway at each end, projecting about five feet above the surface; connect the two by a joist secured firmly to the top of each, and against this, extending to the ground just outside the pit, lay slabs, boards, or poles, and cover the roof that will be thus formed with six inches of straw or old hay, and if in the North throw six or eight inches of earth over this. Leave one end open for entrance and to air the pit, closing the other end with straw or hay. In the North close both ends, opening one of them occasionally in mild weather. When cabbages are pitted on a large scale this system of roofing is too costly and too cumbersome. A few thousand ‘nay be kept in a cool root cellar, by putting one layer heads down, and standing another layer heads up between these. The common practice in the Co 82 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. North, when many thousand are to be stored for Winter and Spring sales, is to select a southern exposure havy- ing the protection of a fence or wall if practicable, and turning furrows with the plough throw out the earth with shovels to the depth of about six inches; the cabbages, stripped as before described, are then stored closely together, and straw or coarse hay is thrown over them to the depth of a foot or eighteen inches. PEO tected thus they are accessible for market at any time during the Winter. If the design is to keep them over till Spring, the covering may be first six inches of earth, to be followed as cold increases, with six inches of straw, litter, or eel grass. This latter is my own practice, with the addition of leaving a ridge of earth between every three or four rows to act as a sup- port and keep the cabbages from falling over. [am also careful to bring the cabbages to the pit as soon as pulled, with the earth among the roots as little disturbed as possible, and, should the roots appear to be dry, to throw a little earth over them after the cabbages are set in the trench. The few loose leaves remaining will prevent the earth from sifting down between the heads, and the air chambers thus made answer a capital pur- pose in keeping out the cold, as air is one of the best non-conductors of heat. It is said that muck soil when well drained is an excellent one to bury cabbage in, as its antiseptic properties preserve them from decay. If the object is to preserve the cabbage for market pur- poses only, the heads may be buried in the same position in which they grew, or they may be inverted, the stump having no value in itself; but if for seed purposes, they must be buried head up, as whatever injures the stump spoils: the whole cabbage for that object. I store between ten and twenty thousand CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 33 heads annually to raise seed from, and carry them through till planting time with a degree of success varying from a loss for seed purposes of from one-half to thirty-three per cent. of the number buried; but if handled early in Spring, many that would be worth- less for seed purposes could be profitably marketed. A few years since I buried a lot with a depth varying from one to four feet, and found, on uncovering them in the Spring, that all had kept and apparently equally well. In the Winter of 1868 excessively cold weather came very early and unexpectedly, before my cabbage plot had received its full covering of litter. The con- sequence was the frost penetrated so deep that it froze through the heads into the stumps, and when Spring came a large portion of them came out spoilt for seed purposes, though most of them sold readily in the mar- ket. A cabbage is rendered worthless for seed when the frost strikes through the stump where it joins the head; and though to the unpracticed eye all may appear right, yet, if the heart of the stump has a water-soaked appearance on being cut into, it will al- most uniformly decay just below the head in the course of a few weeks after having been planted out. If there is a probability that the stumps have been frozen through, examine the plot early, and, if it proves so, sell the cab- bages for eating purposes, no matter how sound and handsome the heads look; if you delay until time for planting out the cabbage for seed, meanwhile much waste will occur. I once lost heavily in Marblehead Mammoth cabbage by having them buried on a, hill- side with a gentle slope. In the course of the Winter they fell over on their sides, which let down the soil from above, and, closing the air chambers between them, brought the huge heads into a mass, and the result was 34 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC, a large proportion of them rotted badly. At another time I lost a whole plot by burying them in soil between ledges of rock, which kept the ground very wet when Spring opened ; the consequence was every cabbage rot- ted. If the heads are frozen more than two or three leaves deep before they are pitted, they will not come out so handsome in the Spring; but cabbages are very hardy, and they readily rally from a little freezing either in the open ground or after they are buried, though it is best when they are frozen in the open ground to let them remain there until the frost comes out before re- moving them if it can be done without too much risk of freezing still deeper, as they handle better then, for being tougher the leaves are not so easily broken. If the soilis frozen to any depth before the cabbages are re- moved the roots will be likely to be injured in the pull- ing, a matter of no consequence if the cabbages are in- tended for market, but of some importance if they are for seed raising. Large cabbages are more easily pulled by giving them a little twist; if for seed purposes, this should be avoided, as it injures the stump. A small lot that are to be used within a month can be kept hung up by the stump in the cellar of a dwelling house; they will keep in this way until Spring, but the outer leaves will dry and turn yellow, the heads shrink some in size, -and be apt to lose in quality. Some practice putting elean chopped straw in the bottom of a box or barrel, wetting it, and covering with heads trimmed ready for cooking, adding again wet straw and a layer of heads, so alternating until the barrel or box is filled, after which it is headed up and kept in a cool place, at or a little below the freezing point. No doubt this is an excellent way to preserve a small lot, as it has the two essentials to success, keeping them cool and moist. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 35 Instead of burying them in an upright position, after a deep furrow has been made the cabbages are some- times laid on their sides two deep, with their roots at the bottom of the furrow, and covered with earth in this position. Where the Winter climate is so mild that a shallow covering will be sufficient protection, this method saves much labor. HAVING CABBAGE MAKE HEADS IN WINTER. When a piece of drumhead has been planted very late, (sometimes they are planted on ground broken up after a crop of hay has been taken from it the same season,) there will be a per cent. of the plants when the growing season is over that have not headed. With care almost all of these can be made to head during the Winter. A few years ago I selected my seed heads from a large piece and then sold the first ** pick’’ of what remained at ten cents a head, the second at eight cents, and so down until all were taken for which purchasers were willing to give one cent each. Of course, after such a thorough selling out as this there was not much in the shape of a head left. I now had what remained pulled up and carted away, doubtful whether to feed them to the cows or to set them out to head up during Winter. As they were very healthy plants in the full vigor of growth, having rudimentary heads just gathering in, I determined to set them out. I had a pit dug deep enough to bring the tops of the heads, when the plants were stood upright as they grew, just above the surface of the ground; I then stood the cabbages in without breaking off any of the leaves, keeping the roots well covered with earth, having the plants far enough apart not to crowd each other very 5 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. much, though so near as to press somewhat together the two outer circles of leaves. They were allowed to re- | main in this condition until it was cold enough to freeze the ground an inch in thickness, when a covering of coarse hay was thrown over them a couple of inches thick, and, as the cold increased in intensity, this cov- ering was increased to ten or twelve inches in thickness, the additions being made at two or three intervals. In the Spring LI uncovered the lot, and found that nearly every plant had headed up. I sold the heads for four vents a pound, and these refuse cabbages averaged me about ten cents a head, which was the price my best» heads brought me in the Fall. I have seen thousands of cabbages in one lot, the refuse of several acres that had been planted on sod land broken up the same season a crop of hay had been taken from it, made to head by his course, and sold in the Spring for $1.50 per barrel. When there isa large lot of such cabbages the most sconomical way to plant them will be in furrows made by the plough. Most of the bedding used in covering them, if it be as coarse as it ought to be to admit as much air as possible while it should not mat down on the cabbages, will, with care in drying be again available for covering another season, or remain suitable for bed- ding purposes. These ‘“ Winter headed”’ cabbages, as they are called in the market, are not so solid and have more shrinkage to them than those headed in the open ground; hence they will not. bear transportation as well, neither will they keep as long when exposed to the air. The effect of wintering cabbage by burying in the soil is to make them exeedingly tender for table use. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 37 VARIETIES OF CABBAGE. If a piece of land is planted with seed grown from two heads of cabbage the product will bear a striking resemblance to the two parent cabbages, with a third variety which will combine the characteristics of these two, yet the resemblance will be somewhat modified at times by a little more manure, a little higher culture, a little better location, and the addition of an individ- uality that particular vegetables occasionally take upon themselves which we signify by the word “ sport.’ The “sports”? when they occur are fixed and perpet- uated with remarkable readiness in the cabbage family, - as is proved by the great number of varieties in culti- vation, the numerous progeny of one ancestor. The catalogues of the English and French seedsmen con- tain long lists of varieties, many of which (and this is especially true of the early kinds) are either the same variety under a different name or are different “ strains” of the same variety produced by the careful selections of prominent market gardeners through a series of years. Four different seasons I have experimented with for- eign and American varieties of cabbage to learn the characteristics of the different kinds, their comparative earliness, size, shape, and hardness of head, length of stump, and such other facts as would prove of value to market gardeners. There is one fact that every care- ful experimenter soon learns, that one season will not teach all that can be known relative to a variety, and that a number of specimens of each kind must be raised to enable one to make a fair comparison. It is amusing to read the dicta which appear in the agricul- tural press from those who have made but a single ex- periment with. some vegetable; they proclaim more 38 CABBAGES. HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. after a single trial than’a cautious experimenter would dare to declare after years spent in careful observation. The year 1869 I raised over sixty varieties of cab- bage importing nearly complete suites of those adver- tised by the leading English and French seed houses, and collecting the principal kinds raised in this country. I do not propose describing all these in this treatise or their comparative merits; of some of them I have yet something to learn, but I will endeavor to introduce with my description such notes as I think will prove of value to my fellow farmers and market gardeners. I will here say in general of the class of early cab- bages, that most of them have elongated heads between ovoid and conical in form. They appear to lack in this country the sweetness and tenderness that characterize some varieties of our drumhead, and consequently in the North when the drumhead enters the market there is but a limited call for them. It may be well here to note a fundamental distinction between the drumhead cabbage of England and those of this country. In England the drumhead class are almost wholly raised to feed to stock; I venture the conjecture that this is owing in part, or principally, to the fact that, being raised for cattle, Huropean gar- deners have never had the motive and consequently have never developed the full capacity of the drumhead as exampled by the fine varieties raised in this country. The securing of sorts reliable for heading being there- fore a matter of secondary consideration, seed is raised from stumps or any refuse heads that may be standing when Spring comes around. For this reason English drumhead cabbage seed is better suited to raise a mass of leaves than heads, and always disappoints our Ameri- can farmers who buy it because it is cheap with the CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. So expectation of raising cabbages for market. English erown drumhead cabbage seed is utterly worthless for use in this country except to raise greens or collards. The following are foreign varieties that are accepted in this country as standards, and for years have been more or less extensively cultivated: Harty York, LarGe York, Harty OxHEArt, LARGE FRENCH OXHEART, Harty Sugar Loar, Harty Winniestapt, Rep Durcu, Rep DrumHeaD. Of these the Large French Oxheart, Red Drumhead and Early Winnigstadt have had a somewhat recent introduction, the two latter having grown rapidly in popularity. In my experience as a seed dealer, the Sugar Loaf and Oxheart are losing ground in the farming community, the Early Jersey Wakefield having, to a large extent, replaced them. Early York. Heads nearly ovoid, pretty hard for an early sort, with few waste leaves surrounding them, which are of a bright green color. Reliable for heading. Stump rather short. Plant two feet by eighteen inches. This cabbage has been cultivated in England over a hundred years. Urrrte Prxte and Carrer’s SUPERFINE HaRLY are with me each of them earlier than Early York, are as reliable for heading, head much harder, and are of better flavor; the first does not grow as-large, ’ but the second I think does, and is therefore much pref- erable to it. Large York, is about a fortnight later than Early York; heads larger, not so long, and more solid ; leaves gather closer around the head ; stumps short. It is asserted that this variety is less affected by heat than several other kinds, and hence is a good cabbage for the South. 40 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. Early Oxheart. Heads nearly egg-shaped, small, hard, few waste leaves; stump short. A little later than Early York. Have the rows two feet apart, and the plants from sixteen to eighteen inches apart in the row. Large French Oxheart closely resembles Karly Oxheart, but grows to double the size, and is about ten days later; quality usually good. An excellent kind for large early, but, like all others of the oblong headed cabbages, must in this country be marketed before. the drumhead class mature or the crop becomes unsalable. Early Sugar Loaf. Heads shaped much like a loaf of sugar standing on its smaller end, resembling, as Burr well says, a head of Cos lettuce in its shape and in the peculiar clasping of the leaves about the head. Heads rather hard, medium size; early, and tender. It is said not to stand the heat as well as most sorts. Plant in rows two feet apart, and the plants from eigh- teen to twenty-four inches in the row. Early Winnigstadt. (A German cabbage.) Diy l/) ul} Wi i ATR ! XK \\ Xi AN Heads nearly conical in shape having usually a twist of CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 41 leaf at the top: larger than Oxheart, and harder than any of the early oblong heading cabbages ; stump middling short. Matures about ten days later than Early York. The Winnigstadt is remarkably reliable for heading, being not excelled in this respect when the seed a been raised with care, by any cabbage grown. It is capital sort for early market outside our large sitios where the very early kinds are not so eagerly craved. It is so reliable for heading that it will often make fine heads where other sorts fail, and I would advise all who have not succeeded in their efforts to grow cabbage to try this before giving up their attempts. It is raised by some for Winter use, and where the drumheads are not successfully raised I would advise my farmer friends to try the Winnigstadt, as the heads are so hard that they keep without much waste. Have rows two feet apart, and plants twenty inches to two feet apart in the rows. Red Dutch. Heads nearly conical, medium sized, hard, of a very deep red; outer leaves numerous, and not so red as the head, being somewhat mixed with green; stump rather long. This cabbage is usually planted too late ; it requires nearly the whole season to mature. It is used for pickling, or cut up fine as a salad served with vinegar and pepper. This is a very tender cabbage, and were it not for its color would be an excel- lent sort to boil; to those who have a mind to eat it with their eyes shut, this objection will not apply. Red Drumhead. In every way like the preced- ing with the exception that the heads grow round or nearly so, are harder, and of double the size. Care should be taken not to run these cabbages too large, as they will begin to lose in color, which lessens their value for pickling and salad uses. It is very difficult to raise 42 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. seed from this cabbage in this country. Jam acquainted with five trials made in as many different years, two of which I made myself, and all were nearly utter failures, the yield when the hardest heads were selected being at about the rate of two great spoonfuls of seed from every twenty cabbages. French seed growers are more suc- cessful, otherwise this seed would have to sell at a higher figure in the market than any other sort. The Little Pixie, a re- cent introduc- tion, has much to recommend it in quality, reliability for 24 heading, and : hardness of the head; be- ing earlier than Early York, though somewhat smaller, it is to be lamented if it does not ultimately sweep away that bunch of chaff. Among those that deserve to be heartily welcomed and grow in favor, are the Harty ULM Savoy (for engraving and description of which see under head of Savoy,) Harty VANACK, (a very early conical heading sort,) Harty Nonparetn, (another closely allied variety,)— both these latter being among the earliest,—and the Sr. Dennis DruMHEAD, a late, short-stumped sort, set- ting a large, round, very solid head, as large but harder than Premium Flat Dutch. The leaves are of a bluish green, and thicker than those of most varieties of drumhead. Our brethren in Canada think highly CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 43 of this cabbage, and if we want to try a new drumhead, I will speak a good .word for this one. \ i i‘ A Early Schweinfurt or Schweinfurt Quintal isa new but excellent early drumhead ; the heads range in size from ten to eighteen inches in diameter, varying with the conditions of cultivation more than any other cabbage I am acquainted with. The heads are fiattish round, weigh from three to nine pounds when well grown, are very symmetrical in shape, standing apart from the surrounding leaves. They are not solid, though they have the finished appearance that solidity gives; they are remarkably tender as though blanched, and of very good flavor. It is among the earliest of drumheads, maturing at about the same time as the Harly Winnig- stadt. As an early drumhead for the family garden it has no superior; and where the market is near and does not insist that a cabbage head must be hard to be good, it has proved a very profitable market sort. 44 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. The following are the standard American varieties of cabbage: Earty WAKEFIELD, Harty WYMAN, Harty Low Dutcu, Premium Fiat Dutcu, Stone Mason, Larce LATE DRUMHEAD, MARBLEHEAD MAmmMotH Drum- HEAD, AMERICAN GREEN GLAZED, FoTTLER’S DRUMHEAD, BercGeN DruMHEAD, DrumHEAD Savoy, and AMERICAN GREEN GLOBE Savoy. ALIl of these varieties as | have previously stated are but improvements of foreign kinds; but they are so far improved through years of careful selection and cultivation that as a rule they ap- pear quite distinct fram the original kinds when grown side by side with them, and this distinction is more or less recognized in both English and American cata- logues by the adjective ‘“‘ American,” or ‘“ English” being added after varieties bearing the same name. Early Wakefield, sometimes called Karly Jer- sey Wakefield. Heads mostly nearly conical in shape but sometimes nearly round, of good size for early, very reliable for heading ; stump short. A very popular early cabbage in the markets of Boston and New York. Plant two and a half by twenty inches. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 45 Early Wyman. This cabbage is nam- ed after Capt. Wy- man of Cambridge, who has raised it for a number of years. GZ Like Early Wakefield & the heads are usual- ly somewhat conical, but sometimes nearly round; in structure they are compact.” In earliness it ranks about with the Early Wakefield, and, making heads of double the size, it has a high value as an early cabbage. Capt. Wyman has had complete, control of this cabbage until within the past two years, and conse- quently has held Boston Market ins his own hands to the chagrin of his fellow market gardeners, raising some seasons as many as thirty thousand heads. Have the rows from two to two and a half feet apart, and the plants from twenty to twenty-four inches apart in the row. Premium Flat Dutch ' A large, late variety; heads either round or flat, on the top (varying with different strains) rath- er hard, color bluish - green, | leaves around ~ heads rather 46 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. numerous ; towards the close of the season, the edge of some of the exterior leaves and the top of the heads assume a purple cast. The edges of the exterior leaves and of the two or three that make the outside of the head are quite ruffled so that when grown side by side with Stone Mason, this distinction between the habit of erowth of the twovarieties is noticeable at quite a dis- tance. Stumps short; reliable for heading. Have the rows three feet apart, and the plants from two and a half to three feet apart in the rows. This cabbage is very widely cultivated, and in many respects is an ex- cellent sort to raise for late marketing. % Early Low Dutch. (Burr.) Heads round, me- dium sized, solid. Outside leaves few in number; stalk thick and short. Medium early, tender and of good quality. Plaht two and a half feet by two. Stone Mason. An im- provement on the Mason, which cabbage was selected by Mr. John Mason of Marblehead, from a num- ber of varieties of cabbage that came from a lot of seed purchased ‘and planted as Savoys. Mr. John Stone af- terwards improved upon the Mason cabbage, by increas- ing the size of the heads. Different growers differ in their standard of a Stone Mason cabbage, in earliness and lateness, and in the size, form, and hardness of the head. But all these varieties agree in the charac- teristics of being very reliable for heading, in having heads, which are large, very hard, very tender, rich, and sweet; short stumps, and few waste leaves. The CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 47 eolor of the leaves varies from a bluish green to a pea green, and the structure from nearly smooth to much blistered. In their color and blistering some specimens have almost a Savoy cast. The heads of the best vari- eties of Stone Mason range in weight from six to twenty- five pounds, the difference turning mostly on soil, manure, and cultivation. As it is desirable to obtain the hardest and heaviest heads possible for shipping purposes, to save waste in handling and stowage, I shall for the future cutiivate the roundest and hardest heading varieties on my own orounds. The Stone Mason is an earlier cabbage than Pre- mium Flat Dutch, has fewer waste leaves, and side by side under high cultivation grows to an equal or larger size, while it makes heads that are decidedly harder and sweeter. These cabbages are equally reliable for head- ing. I am inclined to the opinion that under poor cul- tivation the Premium Flat Dutch will do somewhat better than the Stone Mason. It is the standard drumhead cabbage in the markets of Boston and other large cities of the North, being a very profitable variety, the gross returns frit an acre in the vicinity of Boston often reaching from two hun- dred to three hundred and fifty dollars. Have the rows three feet apart, and the plants from two to three feet apart in the row. | Large Late Drumhead. (Burr.) Heads large, round, sometimes flattened at the top, close and firm ; loose leaves numerous; stem short; reliable for head- ing, hardy, and a good keeper. The name * Large Late Drumhead’”’ includes varieties raised by Messrs. Collins & Anderson, Buist, and several other seeds- men in this country, all of which resemble each other As CABBAGES, HOW. TO GROW THEM, ETC. in the above characteristics, and differ in but minor points. Have rows three feet apart, and plants from two and a half to three feet apart in the row. Marblehead Mammoth Drumhead. This is the larg- est of the cab- bage family, hay- ing sometimes been grown to weigh over sixty pounds to the plant. It origi- nated in Marble- head, Massachusetts, being produced by Mr. Alley, probably from the Mason, by years of high cultivation and careful selection of seed stock. I introduced this cabbage and the Stone Mason to the general public about twelve years ago, since which time they have been pretty thoroughly disseminated throughout the United States. Heads varying in shape between hemispherical and spherical, with but few waste leaves surrounding them; size very large, varying from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter, and in some specimens they have grown to the extraordinary dimensions of twenty- four inches. In good soil and with the highest culture this variety has attained an average weight of thirty pounds by the acre. Quality when well grown re- markably sweet and tender, as would be inferred from the rapidity of its growth. Cultivate in rows four feet apart, and allow four feet between the plants in the rows. Sixty tons of this variety have been raised from a single acre. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 49 American Green Glazed. Heads loose, though rather large, with a great body of waste leaves surround- ing them ; quality poor, late ; stump long. This cabbage was readily distinguished among all the varieties in my experimental plot by the deep, rich green of the leaves with their bright lustre as though varnished. It is grown somewhat extensively in the South, as it is believed not to be so liable to injury from insects as other varieties. Plant two and a half feet apart each way. I would advise my Southern friends to try the merits of other kinds before adopting this poor affair. I know, through my correspondence, that the Mammoth has done well as far South as Louisiana and Cuba, and the Fottler in many sections of the South has given great satisfaction. Fottler’s Early Drumhead . Ten-years ago a Boston seedsman imported a a lot of Cab- bage seed from Europe, = under the name of Karly Brunswick Short Stemmed. It proved o be a large heading and very early Drumhead. The heads were from eight to eighteen inches in diameter, nearly flat, hard, sweet and tender in quality ; few waste leaves; stump short. In earliness it was about a fortnight ahead of the Stone-Mason. It was so much liked by the market gardeners that the next season he ordered a larger quantity ; but the second importation, LPP, 50 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. though ordered and sent under the same name, proved to be a different and inferior kind, and the same result followed one or two other importations. An importa- tion that | made last season as Karly Brunswick Short Stemmed proved to be quite inferior to Fottler’s variety. The two gardeners who received seed of the first im- portation brought to market a fine large Drumhead, ten days or a fortnight ahead of their fellows. The seed of the true stock was eagerly bought up by the Boston market gardeners, most of it at $5 an ounce. After an extensive trial on a large scale another season by the market farmers around Boston, and on a more limited scale by farmers in varions parts of the United States, Fottler’s Cabbage has given great satisfaction. Very reliable for heading. Bergen Drumhead. Heads round, rather flat on the top, solid ; leaves stout, thick, and rather numerous ; stump short. With me, under same cultivation, it is later than the Stone Mason. It is tender and of good flavor. A popular sort in many sections, particularly in the markets of New York city. Have the plants three feet apart each way. Cannon Ball. This cabbage came originally from the Patent office, but as I have been unable to trace its parentage to any foreign country in the course of my experiments with varieties, I think we may as well class it as American by default. The heads are usually spherical, attaining to a diameter of from five to nine inches, with the surrounding leaves gathered rather closely around them ; in hardness and relative weight it is not excelled, if equalled, by any other cabbage. Stump short. It delights in the highest cultivation possible- It is about a week later than Karly York. In those CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. ol markets where cabbages are sold by weight, it will pay to grow for market; it is a good cabbage for the family garden. SAVOY CABBAGE. The Savoys are the tenderest and richest flavored of cabbages, though not always as sweet as a well grown Stone Mason; nor is a Savoy grown on poor soil or one that has been pinched by drouth as tender as a Stone Mason that has been grown under favoring cir- cumstances ; yet it remains as a rule that the Savoy surpasses all other cabbages in tenderness, and in a rich, marrow-like flavor. The Savoys are also the hardiest of the cabbage tribe, enduring in the open field a *tem- perature within sixteen degrees of zero without serious injury; and if the heads are not very hard they will continue to withstand repeated changes from freezing to thawing for a couple of months, as far north as the latitude of Boston. A degree of freezing improves them, and it is common in that latitude to let such as are intended for early winter use remain standing in the open ground where they grew, cutting the heads as they are wanted. | As arule Savoys neither head as readily nor do the heads grow as large as the drumhead varieties ; indeed, most of the kinds in cultivation are so unreliable in these respects as to be utterly worthless for market purposes, and nearly so for the kitchen garden. The Drumhead Savoy sent out by Vilmorin, An- dreaux, & Co., of France, is not sufficiently distinct from the Green Globe Savoy; it is of a bluish green cast, not so fine in structure, and attains about the same size, but there is not enough of the drumhead in it to make the variety worthy of the name ‘“ drumhead.” o2 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. a Fotsom’s AMERICAN DRUMHEAD Savoy, sometimes called CAMBRIDGE SAVOY is much superior, growing to double the size, while it has enough of the Savoy character in it tomark it strongly both for the eye and the palate. One variety in my experimental garden, which I received as Tour’s Savoy (evidently a drumhead variety of the Savoy) proved to be much like Early Schweinfurt in earliness and style of heading; the heads were very large, but quite loose in structure; I should think it would prove valuable for family use. It is a fact that does not appear to be generally known that we have among the Savoys some remark- ably early sorts which rank with the earliest varieties of cabbd@ge grown. Pancalier and Early Ulm Savoy are earlier than that old standard of earliness, Early York, Pancalier being somewhat earlier than Ulm. Pancalier is characterized by very coarsely blistered leaves, of the darkest green color; the heads usually gather together, being the only exception I know of to the rule that cabbage heads are made up of over-lapping leaves, wrapped closely together. It has a short stump, and with high cultivation is reliable for heading. The leaves nearest the head though not forming a part of it are quite ten- der, and may be cooked with the head. Plant fifteen by thirty inches. Early Ulm Savoy is a few days later than Pancalier, and makes a larger head; the leaves : are of a lighter green and not so coarsely blistered. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 53 Stump short; head round; very reliable for heading. It has a capital characteristic in not being so liable as most varieties to burst the head and push the seed shoot immediately after the head is matured. For first early, I know no cabbages so desirable as these for the kitchen garden. The Early Dwarf Savoy is a desirable variety of second early. The heads are rather flat in shape, and grow to a fair size. Stumps short; reliable for heading. Improyed Amer- Pere ican Savoy. Ev- Bey erything considered, this is the Savoy . “par excellence” for the market garden. It is a true Savoy, the heads grow to a = large size, from six to ten inches in di- ameter, varying of course with soil, manure and culti- vation. Inshape the heads are mostly globular, having but few waste leaves, and they grow very solid. Stump short. In reliability for heading it is unsurpassed by any other cabbage. Golden Savoy differs from other varieties in the color of the head, which rises from the body of light- green leaves, of a singular pale yellow color, as though blanched. The stumps are long, and the head rather small, a portion of these growing pointed. It is very late, not worth cultivating except as a curiosity. _ Norwegian Savoy. This is a singular half cab- bage, half kale—at least, so it has proved under my cultivation. The leaves are long, narrow, tasselated, o+ CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. and somewhat blistered. The whole appearance is very singular and rather ornamental. I have tried this cabbage twice, but have never got beyond the possible promise of a head. Victoria Savoy, Russian Savoy, and Cape Savoy, tested in my experimental garden, did not prove desirable either for family use or for market purposes. Feather Stemmed Savoy. This is a cross be- tween the Savoy and brussels sprouts, having the habit of growth of brussels sprouts. i will add notes on a few other varieties in my ex- perimental plot: Large Brunswick Short-Stemmed,. (Hnglish seed.) Late, long-stumped, wild, plenty of leaves, almost no head; bears but a slight resemblance to Fottler’s Drumhead. Early Empress. Cabbages well; heads conical ; early. Robinson’s Champion Ox Drumhead. Stump long; heads soft and not very large; wild. English Winnigstadt. Long stumped, irregular; not to be compared with French stock. Blenheim. Early; heads mostly conical, of good size. Shillings Queen. Early; heads conical; stumps long. Carter’s Superfine Early Dwarf. Surpasses in earliness and hardness of head all the early, long- headed sorts, Little Pixie perhaps excepted. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 55 Enfield Market Improved.. Most of the heads were flat; rather wild ; not to be compared with Fottler. Kemp’s Incomparable. Long-headed; heads when mature do not appear to burst as readily as with most of the conical class. Fielderkraut. Closely resembles Winnigstadt, with larger and longer heads and stump; requires more room than Winnigstadt. Ramsay’s Winter Drumhead. Closely resem- bles St. Dennis ; I think it the same. Pomeranian Cabbage. Heads very long; quite large for a conical heading sort; very symmetrical and hard; color yellowish green. It handles well, and I should think would prove a good keeper. Medium early. Alsacian Drumhead. Stump long; late ; wild. Marbled Bourgogne. Stump long; heads small and hard ; color a mixture of green and red. Early Dutch Drumhead. (French seed.) A wild, worthless sort. The Little Dutchman. I obtained one altogether un- expected re- sult from my experiment of last season. Among the drumheads was one that headed up earlier than any cabbage in the field, before 56 —S CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. even Little Pixie, Superfine Early, or Karly York. The heads were nearly round, unusually symmetrical, hard, and from six to eight inches across; these heads set so close to the ground that the cabbge hardly had a stump, it was not an inch in length. I called two or three of my townsmen, who were extensive cabbage growers, to see the novelty, and we all agreed that this cabbage promised to be quite an acquisition. One swallow does not make a summer, neither does a single experiment in cabbage culture establish a point ; yet, taking into consideration how fully the different varieties developed themselves, I am satisfied this was decidedly the earliest drumhead on the piece. I shall experiment further with it. I call this cabbage ‘‘ The © Little Dutchman” in lieu of a better name, as I cannot tell for a certainty whence the seed stock was originally procured. Ihave now but half a tea spoonful of the seed remaining, and am not sufficiently certain from where it was obtained to enable me to procure more. Should it prove on further trial remarkably early, my friends may have to wait with patience a couple of years until I can raise a supply of seed. CABBAGE GREENS. In the vicinity of our large cities, the market gardeners sow large areas very thickly with cabbage seed, early in the Spring,’to raise young plants to be sold as greens. The seed is sown broadcast at the rate of ten pounds and upwards to the acre. Seed of the Savoy cabbage is usually sown for this purpose, which may be sometimes purchased at a discount, owing to some defect in quality or purity that would render it wo-thless for planting for a crop of heading cabbage. CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. OT The young plants are cut off about even with the ground, when four or five inches high, washed, and carried to market in barrels or bushel boxes, The price varies with the state of the market, from 12 cents to $5.00 a barrel, the average price in Boston market being about a dollar. With the return of Spring most fam- ilies have some cabbage stumps remaining in the cellar ; these can be planted about a foot apart in some handy spot, along the edge of the garden, where they will not in- terfere with the general crop, setting them under ground from a quarter to a half their length, depending on the length of the stumps. They will soon be covered with green shoots, which should be used as greens before the blossom buds show themselves, as_ they then become too strong to be agreeable. If the spot is rich and has been well dug, the rapidity of growth is surprising; and if the shoots are frequently gathered, many nice messes of greens can be grown from a few stumps. Farmers in northern Vermont tell me, that if they break off each seed shoot as soon as it shows itself, close home to the stump, nice little heads will push out on almost every stump. In England, where the Winter climate is much milder than that of New England, it is the practice to raise a second crop of heads in this way. I have seen an acre from which a crop of drumhead cabbage had been cut off early in the season, every stump on which had from three to six hard heads, varying from the size of a hen’s egg to that of a goose egg. As in the cabbage districts of the North little or no use is made of this prolific after growth, it is worse than useless to suffer the ground to be exhausted by it ; the stumps should be pulled by the potato hoe as soon as the heads are marketed. 7 When cabbages are planted out for seed, if for any 58 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, BTC. reason the seed shoot fails to push out, and at times when it does push out, fine sprouts for greens will start below the head; when the stock of these sprouts becomes too tough for use, the large leaves may be stripped from them and cooked. 1 usually break off the tender tops of large sprouts, and then strip off the tenderest of the large leaves below. CABBAGE FOR STOCK. No vegetable raised in the temperate zone will produce as much food to the acre, both for man and beast, as the cabbage. I have seen acres of the Marblehead Mammoth drumhead which would average thirty pounds to each cabbage, some specimens weighing over sixty pounds. The plants were four feet apart each way, which would give a product of forty tons to the acre. Other vegetables are at times raised for cattle feed, such as potatoes, carrots, ruta bagas, mangold wurtzels ; a crop of potatoes yielding four hundred bushels to the acre at sixty pounds the bushel would weigh twelve tons ; a crop of carrots yielding twelve hundred bushels to the acre would weigh thirty tons; mangold wurtzels and ruta bagas sometimes yield from thirty to thirty-five tons. I have set all these crops at their highest capacity for fodder, purposes; the same favoring con- ditions of soil, manure, and cultivation that would produce four hundred bushels of potatoes, twelve hundred bushels of carrots, and thirty-five tons of mangolds and ruta baga turnips, would give a crop of forty tons of the largest variety of drumhead cabbage. If we now consider the comparative merits of these crops for nutriment, we find that the cabbage excels them all in this department also. The potato abounds CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 59 in starch, the mangold is composed mostly of water, and the carrot ranks but a grade higher; while the cabbage abounds in rich, nitrogenous food, ranking in nutriment almost side by side with the flesh of animals. When cabbage is kept for stock feed later than the first severe frost, if the quantity is large there is con siderable waste even with the best of care. The loose leaves should be fed first, and the heads be kept on the stump in a-cool place, not more than two or three deep, at as near the freezing point as possible. If it has been necessary to cut the heads from the stumps, they may be piled, after the weather, has set in decidedly cold, conveniently near the barn, and kept covered with a foot of straw or old litter. As long as a cabbage is kept frozen there is no waste to it; but if it be allowed to freeze and thaw two or three times, it will soon rot with an awful stench. On the other hand, if it is kept in too warm and dry a place the outer leaves will dry, turning yellow, and the whole head lose in weight,—if it be not very hard, shriveling, and if hard, shrinking. If they are kept in too warm and wet a place, the heads will decay fast, in a black, soft rot. The best way to preserve cabbages for stock into the winter is to place them in trenches a few inches below the surface, and there cover with from a foot to two feet of coarse hay or straw, the depth depending on the coldness of the locality. When the ground has been frozen too hard to open with a plough or spade, I have kept them until Spring by piling them loosely, hay-stack shape, about four feet high, letting the frost strike through them, and afterwards covering with a couple of feet of eel grass ; straw or coarse hay would doubtless do as well. I have treated of cabbage thus far when grown specially for stock ; in every piece of cabbage handled 60 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. for market purposes, there is a large proportion of waste suitable for stock feed, which includes the outside leaves and such heads as have not hardened-up sufficiently for market. On walking over a piece of three or four acres this Fall, just after my cabbages for seed stock had been taken off, I noted that the refuse leaves that were stripped from the heads before pulling were so abundant that they nearly covered the ground. If leaves so stripped remain exposed to frost, they soon spoil ; or, if earlier in the season they are exposed to the sun, they soon become yellow, dry, and of but little value. They can be rapidly collected with a hay fork and carted, if there be but a few, into the barn; should there be a large quantity, dump them within a convenient distance | of the barn or feeding ground, but not where the cattle can trample them, and spread them so that they shall be but a few inches in depth. If piled in heaps they will quickly heat; but even then, if not too much de- cayed, cattle will eat them with avidity. If cabbage is fed to cows in milk without some care, it will be apt to give the milk a strong cabbage flavor ; all the feed for the day should be given early in the morning. Beginning with a small quantity, the dairy- man will soon learn his limits. The effects of a liberal feed to milk stock is to increase the flow of milk, under some circumstances more than two fold. Avoid feed- ing to any extent while the leaves are frozen. An English writer says: ‘‘ The cabbage comes into use when other things begin to fail, and it is by far the best succulent vegetable for milking cows—keeping up the yield of milk, and preserving better than any other food some portion of the quality which cheese loses when the cows quittheir natural pasturage. Cows fed on cabbages are always quiet and satisfied, while on turnips they CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 61 often scour, and are restless. When frosted they are lia- ble to produce hoven unless kept in a warm shed to thaw before being used ; fifty-six pounds given, at two meals, are as much as a large cow should have in a day. Frequent cases of abortion are caused by an over supply of green food. Cabbages are excellent for young ani- mals, keeping them in health, and preventing ‘ black leg.’ A calf of seven months may have twenty pounds a day.” RAISING CABBAGE SEED. Cabbage seed in England, particularly of the drum- head sorts is mostly raised from stumps, or from the refuse that remains after all that is salable has been disposed of. The agent of one of the largest English seed houses, a few years since, laughed at my “ wasteful- ness”’ as he termed it, in raising seed from solid heads. In this country cabbage seed is mostly raised from soft, half-formed heads, which are grown as a late crop, few if any of them being hard enough to be of any value in the market. Seedsmen practice selecting a few fine hard heads from which to raise their seed stock. It has been my practice to grow seed from none but extra fine heads, better than the average of those carried to market. Ido this on the theory that no cabbage can be too good for a seed head, if the design is to keep the stock first class. Perhaps such strictness may not be necessary, but I had rather err in setting out too good heads than too poor ones; besides, the great hardness obtained by the heads of theStone Mason makes it pos- sible, at least, that I am right. Cabbage raised from seed grown from stumps are apt to be unreliable for heading and to grow long stumped. To have the best of ap) 32 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. seed all shoots that start below the head should be broken off. The shoots should be protected from the wind by being tied to stakes, and scarecrows should be set up, or some like precaution be taken to keep away the little seed birds that begin to crack the pods as soon as they commence to ripen. A plaster cat is a very good scarecrow to frighten away birds from seed and small fruits, if its location is changed every few days. I find that the pods of cabbage seed grown South are tough, and not brittle like those grown North, and hence that they are injured but little if any by seed birds. When the seed pods have passed what seedsmen call their “red ”’ stage, they begin to harden; as soon as a third of them are brown the entire stalk may be cut and hung up in a dry, airy place for a few days, when the seed will be ready for rubbing or threshing out. Differ- ent varieties should be raised far apart to insure purity ; - and cabbage seed had better not be raised in the vicinity of turnip seed. There is some difference of opinion as to the effect of growing these near each other ; where the two vegetables blossom at the same time, I should fear an admixture. When the care requisite to select good seed stock and the trouble of keeping it over win- ter, planting it in isolated locations, protecting it from wind and weather, guarding it from injury from birds and other enemies, gathering it, cleaning it, are all considered, few men will find that they can afford to raise their own seed provided they can buy it from reliable seedsmen. COOKING CABBAGE, SOUR KROUT, &c. Cabbage when boiled with salt pork, as it is mostly used, is the food for strong and healthy digestive CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 63 powers ; but when eaten in its raw state served with vinegar and pepper it is considered one of the most easily digested articles of diet. In the process of cook- ing even with the greatest care, a large portion of the sweetness is lost. The length of time required to cook cabbage by boiling varies with the quality, those of the best quality requiring about twenty minutes, while others require an hour. In cooking put it into boiling water in which a little salt or soda has been sprinkled which will tend to preserve the natural green - color. It will be well to change the water once. The peculiar aroma given out by cabbage when cooking is thought to depend somewhat on the manner in which it is grown; those having been raised with the least rank manure having the least. I think this one of the whims of the community. To Pickle, select hard heads, quarter them, soak in salt and water four or five days, then drain and treat as for other pickles, with vinegar spiced to suit. For Cold Slaw, select hard heads, halve and then slice up these halves exceedingly fine. Lay these in a deep dish, and pour over vinegar that has been raised to the boiling point in which has been mixed a little pepper and salt. Sour Krout. Take large, hard headed drumheads, halve and cut very fine, then pack in a clean, tight barrel, beginning with a sprinkling of salt and following with a layer'of cabbage, and thus alternating until the barrel is filled. Now compact’ the mass as much as possible by pounding, after which put on a well fitting cover resting on the cabbage, and lay heavy weights or a stone on this. When fermented it is ready for use. To preparé for the table fry in butter or fat. 64 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. The outer green leaves of cabbages are sometimes used to line a brass or copper kettle in which pickles are made, in the belief that the vinegar extracts the color- ing substance (chlorophyl) in the leaves, and the cucumbers absorbing this acquire a rich green color. Be not deceived by this transparent cheat, O simple housewife! the coloring matter comes almost wholly from the copper or brass behind those leaves; and, instead of an innocent vegetable pigment, your green cucumbers are dyed with the poisonous carbonate of copper. CABBAGES UNDER GLASS. The very early cabbages usually bringing very high prices, the enterprising market gardener either winters young plants over under glass or starts them, planting the seed under its protecting shelter long before the cold.of Winter is passed. When the design is to winter over Fall grown plants, the seed are planted in the open ground about the middle of September and at about the last of October they are ready to go into the cold frames, as such are called that depend wholly on the sun for heat. Select those having short stumps and transplant into the frames, about an inch and a half by two inches apart, shading them with a straw mat or the like for a few days, after which let them remain without any glass over them until the frost is severe enough to begin to freeze the ground, then place over the sashes, but bear in mind that the object is not to promote growth, but as nearly as possible to keep them in a dormant state, to keep them so cold that they will not grow, and just sufficiently protected to prevent injury from freezing. With this object in view the CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 65 sashes must be raised whenever the temperature is above freezing, and this process will so harden the plants tha tthey will receive no serious injury though the ground under the sash should freeze two inches deep ; cabbage plants will stand a temperature of fifteen to twenty degrees below the freezing point. A covering of snow on the sash will do no harm, if it does not last longer than a week or ten days, in which case it must be re- moved. There is some danger to be feared from ground mice, who, when everything else is locked up by the frost will instinctively take to the sash, and there cause much destruction among the plants unless these are occasionally examined. When March opens, remove the sash when the temperature will allow, replacing it when the weather is unseasonably cold, particularly at night. The plants may be brought still farther forward by transferring them from the hot bed when two or three inches high to cold frames, having first somewhat hardened them. When so transferred plant them about an inch apart, and shield from the sun for two or three days. After this they may be treated as in cold frames. The transfer tends to keep their stock, in- creases the filbrous roots and makes the plants hardier. As the month advances it may be left entirely off, and about the first of April the plants may be set out in the open field, pressing fine earth firmly about the roots. When cabbages are raised in hot beds the seed in the latitude of Boston should be planted the first of March ; in that of New York about a fortnight earlier. When two or three inches high, which will be in three or four weeks, they should be thinned to about four to an inch inthe row. They should now be well hardened by partly drawing off the shashes in the warm part of the day, and covering at night; as the season advances remove the 66 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. sashes entirely by day, covering only at night. By about the middle of April the plants will be ready for the open ground. When raised in cold frames in the Spring, the seed should be planted about the first of April, mats being used to retain by night the solar heat accumulated dur- ing the day. As the season advances the same process of hardening will be necessary as with those raised iu hot beds. COLD FRAME AND HOT BED. To carry on hot beds on a large scale successfully is almost an art in itself—reqairing great skill in their ‘structure and planting and in the use of mats and shut- ters. Early plants in a small way may be raised in flower pots or boxes in a warm kitchen window. It is best, if practicable, to have but one plant in each pot that they may grow short and stocky. Ifthe seed are not planted earlier than April for out of door cultivation a cold frame will answer. For a Cold Frame select the locality in the Fall, choos- ing a warm location on a southern slope, protected by a fence or building on the north and north-west. Set posts or stout sticks in the ground, nail two boards to these parallel to each other, one about a foot in height, and the other towards the south about four inches nar- rower; this will give the sashes resting on them the right slope to shed the rain and receive as much heat as possible from the sun. Have these boards at a dis- tance apart equal to the length of the sash, which may be any common window sash for a small bed, while three and a half feet is the length of a common garden- er’s sash. If common window sash is used cut channels . CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 67 in the cross bars to let the water run off. Dig the ground thoroughly (it is best to cover it in the Fall with litter to keep the frost out) and rake out all stones or clods ; then slide in the sash and let it remain closed three or four days that the soil may be warmed by the sun’s rays. The two end boards and the bottom board should rise as high as the sash to prevent the heat es- caping, and the bottom board of a small frame should have a strip nailed inside to rest the sash on. Next rake in thoroughly guano or phosphate or finely pulver- ized hen manure, and plant in rows. four to six inches apart. As the season advances raise the sashes an inch or two in the middle of the day and water freely at evening with water that is nearly of the temper- ature of the earth in the frame. As the heat of the season increases whitewash the glass and keep them more and more open until just before the plants are set in open ground, then allow the glass to re- main entirely off both day and night unless there should be a cold rain. This will harden them so that they will not be apt to be injured by the cabbage beetle, as well as chilled and put back by the change. Should the plants be getting too large before the season for transplanting, they should be checked by drawing a sharp knife within a couple of inches of the stalk. If it is desirable to check their growth or harden them, transplant into another cold frame, allowing each plant double the distance it before occupied. The structure and management of a Hot Bed is much the same as that of a Cold Frame, with the exception that being started earlier the requisite tem- perature has to be kept up by artificial means, fermenting manure being relied upon for the purpose, and the loss of this heat has to be checked more *s 68 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. carefully by straw matting, and in the far North by shutters, also. In constructing it horse manure with plenty of litter and about a quarter its bulk in leaves, if attainable, all having been well mixed to- gether, is thrown into a pile, and left for a few days until steam escapes, when the mass is again thrown over and left for two or three days more, after which it is thrown into the pit (or it may be placed directly on the surface) from eighteen inches to two feet in depth, when it is beaten down with a fork and trodden well together. The sashes are now put sn and kept there until heat is developed. The first intense heat must be allowed to pass off which will be in about three days after the high tem- perature is reached. Now throw on six or eight inches of fine soil in which mix a very liberal supply of well rotted manure free from all straw, or rake in thoroughly Superphosphate or Guano at the rate of two thousand pounds to the acre and plant the seed as in Cold Frame. CAULIFLOWER, BROCCOLI, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, KALE, AND SEA KALE. My treatise on the cabbage would hardly be complete without some allusion to such prominent members of the Brassica family as the cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and kale. These in the selection and prepara- tion of the soil, manure, and cultivation require for the most part the same treatment as cabbage. In Europe there has been far more progress made in the cul- tivation and use of these vegetables than with us in America; and I am indebted to the work of MclIn- tosh for many of my ideas in this section. The broc- CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 69 coli are closely allied to the cauliflower, the white varieties bearing so close a resemblance that one of them, the Welcheren, is by some classed indiscriminate- ly wig each. The chief distinction between the two is in hardiness, the broccoli being much the hardier. The Cauliflower requires the same distance apart in the rows and between the plants as cabbage, the early and late varieties corresponding in this respect with the early and late varieties of cabbage. To perfect them the very highest cultivation possible is required ; give them strong, deep soil, very thoroughly worked. A fine cauliflower is the pet achievement of the market gar- dener. ‘The great aim is not to produce size only, “‘ but the fine, white, créamy color, compactness, and what is technically called curdy appearance, from its resem- blance to the curd of milk in its preparation for cheese. When the flower begins to open, or when it is of a warty or frost-like. appearance, it is less esteemed. Ii should not be cut in summer above a day before it is used.”’ The cauliflower is served with milk and butter. or it may become a component of soups, or be used as a pickle. Many of the varieties given in catalogues are but synonyms on, and very closely resemble each other. Of these, the most desirable for cultivation are Harty Errurt, Hautr Harty Paris or Dem1 Dur (this is the kind usually sold in this country as Early Paris, the true variety making so small a head as to be com- paratively worthless here) WELCHEREN, Larce ASIATIC, Earty Lonpon, LENORMAND. — Cauliflower seed is grown to’ but a limited extent in this country, being generally imported from , France, Germany, and England. The Half Early Paris has been the basis from which one excellent variety has been raised for a series of years by Mr. Pierce in the vicinity of Boston, called the Boston Market cauliflower. - 70 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. The leaves of the Early Erfurt growing close to the head permit its being planted nearer than any other early sort. Of Broccoli over forty varieties are nanféd in foreign catalogues, of which WELCHEREN is one of the very best. KNicHt’s PROTECTING is an exceedingly hardy dwarf sort. As a rule the white varieties are preferred to the purple kinds. Plant and treat as cauliflower. Of Brussels Sprouts (or bud-bearing cabbage) there are but two varieties, the dwarf and the tall; the tall kind produces more buds, while the dwarf is the hardier. ‘The “ sprouts” form on the stalks, and are minature heads of cabbage from the size of a pea to that of a pigeon’s egg. They are raised to but a lmi- ted extent in this country, but in Europe they are grown on a large scale. The sprouts may be cooked and served like cabbage, though oftentimes they are treated more as a delicacy and served with butter or some rich sauce. The FratHEer Stem Savoy and DALMENY SPROUTS, are considered as hybrids, the one between the brussels sprouts and Savoy, the other between it and Drumhead Savoy. ‘The soil for brussels sprouts should not be so rich as for cabbage, as the object is to grow - them small and solid. Give the same distance apart as for early cabbage, and the same manner of cultivation. Break off the leaves at the sides a few at a time when the sprouts begin to form and when they are ready to use cut them off with a sharp knife. Kale. Sea kale or sea cabbage is a native of the sea coast of, England, growing in the sand and pebbles of the sea shore. It isa perennial, perfectly hardy, with- standing the coldest winters of New England. The CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. (ps blossoms, though bearing a general resemblance to those of other members of the cabbage family, are yet quite unique in appearance, and I think are worthy of a place in the flower garden. It is propagated both by seed and by cuttings of the roots, having the rows three feet apart, and the plants three feet apart in the rows. Plant seed in April and May. The ground should be richly manured and deeply and thoroughly worked. It is blanched before using. In cooking it requires to be very thoroughly boiled, after which it is served up in melted butter and toasted bread. The sea kale is highly prized in England, but thus far its cultivation in this country has been very limited. The Borecole or common kale is of the cabbage family, but is characterized by not heading like the cab- bage or producing eatable flowers like the cauliflower and broccoli. The varieties are very numerous, some of them growing very large and coarse, suitable only as food for stock ; others are exceedingly finely curled, and excellent for table use; while others in their color and structure are highly ornamental. They are annual, biennial, and perennial. They do not require so strong a soil or such high manuring as other varieties of the cabbage family. The varieties are almost endless ; some of the best in cultivation for table use are Dwarr GREEN CURLED or GERMAN GREENS, TALL GREEN CURLED, PURPLE BOoRE- COLE, and the variegated kales. The crown of the plant is used as greens, or aS an ingredient in soups. The kales are very hardy, and the dwarf varieties with but little protection can be kept in the North well into the Winter in the open ground. Plant and cultivate like Savoy cabbage. The variegated sorts with their fine curled leaves of 72 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. a rich purple, green, red, white, or yellow color are very pleasing in their effects, and form a striking and attrac- tive feature when planted in clumps in the flower garden ; particularly is this so because their extreme hardiness leaves them in full vigor after the cold has destroyed all other plants,—some of the richest colors are developed along the veins of the uppermost leaves after the plant has nearly finished its growth for the season. The JERSEY Cow KALE grows to from three to six feet in height and yields a great body of green food for stock ; have the rows about three feet apart, and the plants two to three feet distant in the rows. In several instances my customers have written me that this kale raised for stock feed has given them great satisfaction. . The THousanp HEADED KALE is a tall variety sending out numerous side shoots, whence the name. FLOWER AND VEGETABLE SEED, My business is that of Secdsman. I raise on my three farms in Marblehead, Mass., over one hundred varieties of vegetable seed, and import many choice kinds from the principal seed-growers of France and England. In varieties of vegetable seed, ny Catalogue will be found to be un- surpassed ; while | make new and rare vegetables a specialty. In my Catalogue will be found a choice variety of flower seed selected from among over a thousand kinds as excelling in merit. All my seed is sent out under three warrants, — viz: that my seed shall be fresh and true. 2nd, that it shall reach each purchaser. 34, that all money sent to my address, shall reach me. I shall be happy to send my Catalogue free to all who apply for it. JAMES J. H GREGORY, MARBLEHEAD, Mass ns =