Chap. 41.] CABBAGES; SEVERAL VARIETIES OF THEM. 185 



CHAP. 41 cabbages; the SEVERAL VARIETIES OF THEil. 



Cabbage and coleworts, which at the present day are the 

 most highly esteemed of all the garden vegetables, were held 

 in little repute, I find, among the Greeks ; but Cato,-® on the 

 other hand, sings the wondrous praises of the cabbage, the 

 medicinal properties of which we shall duly enlarge-^ upon 

 when Ave come to treat of that subject. Cato distinguishes 

 three varieties of the cabbage ; the first, a plant with leaves 

 wide open, and a large stalk ; a second, with crisped leaves, to 

 which he gives the name of ''apiaca ;"^° and a third, with a 

 thin stalk, and a smooth, tender leaf, which with him ranks 

 the lowest of all. Cabbages may be sown the whole year 

 through, as we find that they are cut at all periods of the year ; 

 the best time, however, for sowing them is at the autumnal 

 equinox, and they are usually transplanted as soon as five 

 leaves are visible. In the ensuing spring after the first cut- 

 ting, the plant yields sprouts, known to us as "cymae."^^ 

 These sprouts, in fact, are small shoots thrown out from the 

 main stem, of a more delicate and tender quality than the 

 cabbage itself. The exquisite palate, however, of Apicius^^ 

 rejected these sprouts for the table, and his example was fol- 

 lowed by the fastidious Drusus Caesar ; who did not escape, 

 however, the censures of his father, Tiberius, for being so 

 over-nice. After the cymae have made their appearance the 

 cabbage throws out its summer and autumn shoots, and then 

 its winter ones ; after which, a new crop of cymse is produced, 

 there being no plant so productive as this, until, at last, it is 

 quite exhausted by its extreme fertility. A second time for 

 sowing cabbages is immediately after the vernal equinox, the 

 plants of this growth being transplanted at the end of spring, 

 that they may not run up into sprouts before coming to a top : 

 and a third sowing takes place about the summer solstice, the 

 transplanting being done in summer if the soD. is moist, but, 

 if too dry, in autumn. When moisture and manure are sup- 

 plied in small quantities, the flavour of the cabbage is all the 



28 De Re Eust. cc. 156, 157. 29 Jq b. ^x. c. 33. 



3'' Or " parsley" cabbage, so called from its crisped leaves : the curled 

 cole wort, or Brassica viridis crispa of C Bauhin. 



31 The same as our Brussels sprouts. Columella, however, B. xi. c. 3, 

 and B. xii. c. 7, speaks of the Brassica cyma as a distinct variety of cabbage. 



=*2 See B. viii. c. 77. 



