^jbvjuy of ^longi'cjsjsi. 

<^o/.^irya^=j\n. 

UNTTED^TATES^F AMERICA. 



CABBACxES : 



HOW TO GROW THEM 



A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON CABBAGE CULTURE, GIVING 

FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING 

KEEPING AND MARKETING 

THE CROP. 




JAMES J. II. GREGORY, 



INTEODUCEU OF THE MARBLKHEAD CABBAGES 



CABBAGES : 



HOW TO UliOW THEM 



A miACTICAl. 



Creatise 011 (llabbaiic Culture, 



GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEP- 
ING AND MARKETING THE CROP. 



By. 

JAME.S J. H. GREGORY, 

IMIKOi'UCEK OK THK MARBLEHKAJJ OABBA(iKS. 




V 

SALEM. MASS.: 

OBSERVE K STEAM PK IN TING ROOMS. 

1870 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
JAMES J, H. GREGORY, 

At the Clerk's OlBce of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



^^^ ^ o 9 



COZSTTEHnTTS. 



Page. 

Object of Treatise ... 3 

The Origin of Cabbage - - - 3 

What a Cabbage is - - - 4 

Selecting the Soil - - - - 6 

Preparing the Soil - - - 7 

The Manure 8 

How to Apply the Manure - 10 
Making the Hills and Planting the 

Seed 42 

Care of the Young Plants - lo 
Protecting tlie Plants from their 

Enemies 18 

Club or Stump Foot - • - 21 

Care of the Growing Crop - - 2G 

Marketing the Crop - - - 27 

Keeping Cabbages through Winter 29 
Having Cabbage Make Heads in 

Winter 35 

Varieties of Cabbage - - - 37 

Early York - - - - 39 

Large York - - - . 39 

Early Oxheart , - . - 40 

Early Sugar Loaf- - - 40 

Early Winnigstadt - - - 40 

Red Dutch - . . . 4^ 

Red Drumhead - - - - 41 

The Little Pixie - - - 42 
Early Schweinfurt or Schwein- 

furt Quintal - - - - 43 

Early Wakefield - - - 44 

Early Wyman - - - - 45 

Premium Flat Dutch - - 45 

Early Low Dutch - - - 46 

Stone Mason - - - - 46 

Large Late Drumhead - - 47 

Marblehead Mammoth - - 48 

American Green Glazed - - 49 



Page. 

Fottler's Early Drumhead - 49 

Bergen Drumhead - - - 50 

Cannon Ball - - - - 50 

Savoy Cabbage - - - - 51 

Drumhead Savoy - - - 51 

Pancalier 52 

Early Ulm Savoy - - - 52 

Early Dwarf Savoy - - - 53 

Improved American Savoy - 5- 

Golden Savoy - - - - 53 

Norwegian Savoy - - - 53 

Victoria, Russian, Cape Savoys 54 

Feather Stemmed Savoy - - 54 

Large Brunswick Short Stemmed 54 

Early Empress - - - - 54 

Robinson's Champion Ox Drumhe'd 54 

English Winnigstadt - - - 54 

Blenheim 54 

Shillings Queen - - - - 54 

Carter's Superfine Early Dwarf - 54 

Enfield Market Improved - - 55 

Kemp's Incomparable • - - 55 

Fielderkraut 55 

Ramsay's Winter Drumhead - - 55 

Pomeranian Cabbage . - - 55 

Alsacian Cabbage - - - - 55 

Marbled Burgogne . - - 55 

Early Dutch Drumhead - - - 55 

The Little Dutchman - - - 50 

Cabbage Greens - - - - 50 

Cabbage for Stock - - - 58 

Raising Cabbage Seed - - - 01 

Cooking Cabbage, Sour Krout, &c. 62 

Cabbage Under Glass - - 64 

Cold Frame and Hot Bed - - 66 
Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels 

Sprouts, Kale and Sea Kale 68 



OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE. 

As a general yet very thorough response to inquiries 
from many of my customers about cabbage raising, I have 
aimed in this treatise to tell them all about the subject. 
1 have endeavored to talk in a ve-ry 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 me a 
|)retty clear idea of the many hisads under which informa- 
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. 

Botanists tell us that all of the Cabbage family, which 
includes not only every variety of cabbage, Red, White, 
and Savoy, but all the caulijaower, 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 occasionally 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 



4 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

liavo the heading cabbage in its numerous varieties, 
the creamy cauliflower, the feathery kale, the curled 
savoy. The cultivated cabbage was iirst 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- 
liai'ly 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. 

If we cut vertically through the middle of the head, 
WQ shall find it made up of successive layers of leaves, 
which grow smaller and smaller, almost ad infinitum, 
'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 observe 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 vrc sec that a 
cabbage is a ]3ud, a seed bud, as all fruit ])uds 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 
liave the same office as tlie leaves which surround the 
growing fruit bud, and that ofiice 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. G 

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 beads, 
of vdiich are sound ; as a rule, after pushing a feeblc; 
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 whici). 
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 
lieacl do not to an equal degree unfold, (particulai^ly is. 
this true of hard heads ;) yet they exhibit a vitality of 
iheir own, which is seen in the deeper green color the 
outer leaves soon attain, and tlie change from tender- 
ness to toughness in their structure : 1 think, therefore, 
that the degree of failure in the parallel may be meas- 
ured by the diiierence 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 uttorly wasted if left to decay, dry, and 
fall to the ground ; but, for the reason given, I Imve 
never done so.- It is possible that large heads may l»ear 
trimming to a degree without injury to the seed crop ; 
yet 1 should consider this an experiment, and one to I)e 
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, vv^tien manure was but sparingly used cabbage 
would thrive ])etter there than elsewhere, — and not, as 
was genci'ally held, because that vegetable needed a 
moister soil than any other crop. Ca])bage can be 
raised witli success 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 
of the farm. I wish I could preach a very loud sermon 
to all ]ny farmer friends on tlie great value of liberal 
manuring to carry crops successfully through the effects 
of a 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 droutli," 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. 7 

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 
growth 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 



8 CABBAGES, HOW TO 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 be 
spread on the surface after ploughing and thoroughly 
worked into the soil by the gang plougli 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 1)0 made to cut and pulverize the turf until tlie sod is 
left not over an inch in thickness. To do the work thus 
thoroughly requires a yoke of oxen or a pair of stout 
horses. All large stones and large pieces of turf that 
are torn up and brought to the surface should be carted 
off before making the hills. 



THE MANURE. 

Any manure but hog manure for cabbage, — barn 
manui'e, rotten kelp, night soil, guano, pho<p]iatcs, Vv^ood 
ashes, fish, salt, glue waste, hen manure, slaughter-house 
manure. I have used all of these, and found tliem all 
good 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 cabliages, and 
the earlier the crop will mature. As a rule, the riclier 
manures are in ammonia the better they are for cabbage. 

To perfect the large varieties of drumhead — by which 
I mean 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 tlie heap also, on which 
it can be carted after cold weather has set in. Early 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 help 
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. 

to tlie acre. If the land Ls 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 MAKUEE. 

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 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. J 1 

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 veru 
thoroughly with the hoe or fork. Unless the guano (and 
this is true also of most phosphates) is faitlifully 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 lias 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 witli 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 tvro or 
three times, until it is well decomposed, vdien 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 tlio 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 liill and ' yet give 
the cabbage time sufficient to mature. Where the 
climate is unpropitious, or the quantity of inanure 
applied is insufficient, it is possible that transplanting 
may promote heading. The advantages of planting 
directly in the liill are a saving of time, avoiding the 
risks incidental to transplanting, and liaving 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 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 13 

advantage, there being several plants in each hill, the 
cut-worm has to depredate pretty severely l^efore 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 the stump, 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 
})lan to run back once in each furrow, particularly on 
sod land where the plough Avill 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 
ingredients are fine and well mixed. This team is so 



14 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

driven, if possible, as to avoid running in the furrows. 
Two or three hands follow Avith 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 an}^ small vessel having 
a broad bottom, and taking a small pinch between the 
tliumb and fore finger he gives a slight scratch with the 
remaining lingers 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 
ground and thus promote the vegetation of the seed. 
With care a quarter of a pound of seed will plant rji 
acre, when dropped directly in the hills : but half a. 
pound is the common allowance, as there is usually 
some waste from spilling ; while most laborers plant 
with a free hand, 

The soil over the hills being very light and porous, 
careless liands 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 in a 
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, is 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 
ill 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 (JKOW THKM, ETC. 

the seed evenly over the l)ed and gently rake in juaJ 
under the surface, compacting the soil hy 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 30th 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 ]»e 
planted proportionally later. 

CARE OF THE YOUIS^G PLANTS. 

In four or five days, if the weather is propitious, tlie 
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 out the plants. Wlierever tlicy 
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 crowxled. In thinning, 
leave the short-stumped plants, and leave them as far 
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. IT 

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 thQ edge of the hill. 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 \intil 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. 

If 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 it a rule to do all transplanting 
under the heat of mid-day. I think there is not much 
of reason in either course. 



PEOTECTING 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 is so active when 
disturbed that his motions cannot be followed by the 
eye, and Ms 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, aflbrd almost complete 
protection. I am 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 
iDCgin to make his appearance at about the time the flea 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 19 

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 oiF 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 cal^iDage 
patch several tilings over. I have heard of as many as 
twenty being dug at different tiraes 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 
unpropitious und 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 know^i as aphidae, 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, tlie 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. Tlie 
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 coloi- 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 ou 
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 cijUndrosporimn 
concentrlcum ; these last are destroyed by the sprinkling 
of air-slaked lime on the leaves. In this country, along 
the sea coast of the nortliern section, in open ground 
cultivation there is comparatively but little injury done 
hj these marauders, which are the cause of so much 
annoyance 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 difi'erent 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 

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 tliey 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 a rule it is 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 eifete 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. I 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 lime, 
whereas the greater portion of that which enters into 
the composition of bones is phosphate of lime. Com- 
mon air-slaked lime 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 
a 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 I have stated under another head, an attack of 



26 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

club foot is almost sure to follo\^ 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 
liave 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 
great loss to the farmer, and this should be carefully 
guarded 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. 

marketi:n'g the ceop. 

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 a rule, 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 I 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 
Early 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 tlie 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. 

KEEPmG CABBAGES THROUGH THE WINTER. 

In 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 tlian 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- 



30 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 ]:»e expeditiously done l:»y 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 may 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 



32 

North, when many thousand are to be stored for Winter 
and Spring sales, is to select a southern exposure hav- 
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. Pro- 
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. I 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 
])urposes, 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. 8^ 

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 
])lanting out the cabbage for seed, meanwhile much 
Avaste 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 
soil is 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 witliin 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 
olean 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. 

IIAYIKG 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 thei'e 
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 ^ery 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 tlie leaves, 
keeping the roots well covered with earth, having the 
plants far enough apart not to crowd each other very 



-^6 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

macli, 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 incli in thickness, when a covering of 
coarse hay was thrown over them a couple of inches 
thick, and, as tlie 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 I uncovered the lot, and found that nearly 
•every plant had headed up. I sold the heads for four 
cents a ponnd, and these refuse cabbages averaged me 
about ien cents a head, which was the price my best 
heads brought me in tlie Fall. I have seen thousands 
of cab])ages 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 
this cours^3, and sold in the Spring for $1.30 per barrel. 
When there is a large lot of such cabbages the most 
economical 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, 3T 

VAEIETIES 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 httle 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 througk 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- 
])age 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 
Yalue 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, European 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 



39 

expectation of raising cabbages for market. English 
grown drumhead cabbage seed is utterly worthless for 
use in this country except to raise greens or coUards. 

The following are foreign varieties that are accepted 
in this country as standards, and for years have ])een 
more or less extensively cultivated : Early York^ 
Large York, Early Oxheart, Large French OxHEARTy 
Early Sugar Loaf, Early Winnigstadt, Red Dutch, 
Red Drumhead. Of these the Large French Oxheart, 
Red Drumhead and Early Winnigstadt have had a 
somewhat recent introduction, the two latter havino- 
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 l^een cultivated in England over a 
hmidred years. Little Pixie and Carter's Superfine 
Early 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 Frencll Oxheart closely resembles Early 
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 
ca])l}ages, 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.) 




Heads nearly conical in shai)e having usually a twist of 



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 has 
been raised with care, by any cabbage grown. It is a 
capital sort for early market outside our large cities 
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. I am 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 evei^ 
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 
heading, and 
hardness o f 
the head ; be- 
ing earlier 
than Early York, though somewhat smaller, it is to be 
lamented if it does not ultimately sweep away that 
Ijunch of chaff. 

Among those that deserve to be heartily welcomed and 
grow in favor, are the Early Ulm Savoy (for engraving 
and description of which see under head of Savoy,) 
Early Vanack, (a very early conical heading sort,) 
Early Nonpareil, (another closely allied variety,) — 
both these latter being among the earliest, — and the 
St. 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 j 
I will speak a good ,word for this one. 




Early Schweinfurt or Schweinfurt Quintal 

is a 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 arc flattish 
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 Early 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 : Early Wakefield, Early Wyman, Early 
Low Dutch, Premium Flat Dutch, Stone Mason, 
Large Late Drumhead, Marblehead Mammoth Drum- 
head, American Green Glazed, Fottler's Drumhead, 
Bergen Drumhead, Drumhead Savoy, and American 
Green Globe Savoy. All of these varieties as I 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 from 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 Ijearing the same name. 




Early Wakefield, sometimes called Early 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- 
m'an of Cambridge, 
who has raised it for 
a number of years. 
Like Early Wakefield 
the heads are usual- 
ly somewhat conical, 
but sometimes nearly 
round ; in structure they arc compact. ' In earllness it 
ranks about with the Early Wakefield, and, making 
lieads 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 in. his own hands to 
the chagrin of liis 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 
growth 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 
atid 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 GROVv THEM, ETC. 4< 

color 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 grounds. 

The "stone Mason is an earher 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 larg;e cities of the North, being a 
very profitable variety, the gross returns from an acre 
in the vicinity of Boston often reaching from two hun- 
dred to three hundred and fifty dollars. Have the rows 
tlu-ee 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 




48 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. 

Tliis is the larg- 
est of the cab- 
bage family, hav- 
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 betweeji 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 loosfe, 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 
see dsman 
imported a 
a lot of Cab- 
bage seed 
from Europe, 
under the 

name of Early 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 ei^rlincss 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, 




50 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

though ordered and sent under the same name, proved 
to be a diiferent and inferior kind, and the same result 
followed one or two other importations. An importa- 
tion that I made last season as Early 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 various 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 Early York. In those 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 51 

markets where cabbages are sold by weight, it will pay 
to grow for market ; it is a good cabbage for the family 
garden. 

SAYOY 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 a rule 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 Yilmorin, 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." 



52 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

Folsom'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 
to mark it strongly both for the eye and the palate. One 
variety in my experimental garden, which I received as 
Tour's Savoy (evidently a drmnhead 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 
cabbage 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 GEOW 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 tlie 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- 
ican Savoy. E\^ 

€ry thing 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. In shape the heads are mostly globular, having 
but few waste leaves, and they grow very solid. Stmnp 
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 thougli 
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, 




54 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

and scmiewlmt 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 niarket 
purposes. 

Feather Stemmed Savoy. This is a cross be- 
tween the Savoy and brussels sprouts, ha^dng the habit 
of growth of brussels sprouts. 

1 will add notes on a few other varieties in my ex- 
perimental plot : 

Large Brunswick Short-Stemmed, (English 
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. 

Kobinson'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 bm-st as readily as with 
most of the conical class. 

Eielderkraut. Closely resembles Winnigstadt, 
with larger and longer heads and stump ; requires more 
room than Winnigstadt. 

Ramsay's "Winter Drnmhead. 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 r e- 
sult from my 
experiment of 
last season. 
Among the 
drumheads 
was one that 
headed up earlier than any cabbage in the field, before 




56 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

even Little Pixie, Superfine Early, or Early 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 diiferent 
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. I have 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 GEEENS. 

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 
:aay be sometimes purchased at a discount, owing to 
some defect in quality or purity that would render it 
worthless for planting for a crop of heading cabbage. 



ETC. 57 

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 
$3.00 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. 

When cabbages are planted out for seed, if for any 



58 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 

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. I 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 

ill 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 he 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 ])arn, and kept covei-ed witli 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, — it 
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 tlirough 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 quit their natural pasturage. Cows fed on cabbages 
are always quiet and satisfied, while on turnips they 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 61 

often scbur, 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. I do 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 



62 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 he 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 
j-aise 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 lengih 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 m 
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. 

jSour 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 thuk 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 prepare 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, 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 U:N"DER 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. Q5 

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 
in the 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 



6Q 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 FEAME 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. If the 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 



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. 

CAULIFLOWEE, 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 Mcin- 
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 wj||j 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, creamy 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 
wart}^ or frost-like appearance, it is less esteemed. It 
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 
Early Erfurt, Half Early Paris or Demi 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, Large Asiatic, 
Early London, 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 nanJfd in 
foreign catalogues, of which Welcheren is one of the 
very best. Knight'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 limi- 
ted extent in this country, but in Europe they are gi^own 
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 Feather 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 is a perennial, perfectly hardy, with- 
standing the coldest winters of New England. The 



CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 71 

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 CQuntry 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 Dwarf Green Curled or 
German Greens, Tall Green Curled, Purple Bore- 
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 Thousand Headed Kale is a tall variety sending 
out numerous side shoots, whence the name. 



FLOWER AND VEGETABLE SEED. 

iMy business is that of Seedsman. I raise on my three farms in 
Marblehead, Mass., over one hundred varieties of ve2;etable seed, 
and import many choice kinds from the principal seed-growers of 
France and England. 

In varieties of vegetable seed, my Catalogue will be found to be un- 
surpassed ; while I 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. 3d, that 
all mcmey sent to my address, ^hall reach me. I shall be happy 
to send my Catalogue free to all who appb^ for it. 

JAMKS J. H GREGORY, 

Marblehead, Mass