388 



ceived from this Department) and two varieties, tlie Clawson and 



Tappahauuock. He sowed the Jennings October 9, on one-twelfth of 

 an acre, which before had been planted in cabbage. Soil, a dry, stift 

 clay, which was fallowed and harrowed, and the seed turned under with 

 a shovel-plow. No fertilizer used. On the same amount of land equal 

 quantities of the Clawsou and Tappahannock, respectively, were sown. 

 The following is a tabulated statement of results : 



Weight of straw. 



Weight of grain. 



Yield per acre. 



Whtin ripe. 



Jennings 



Clawson 



Tappahannock 



Pounds. 

 485 

 4fil 

 401 



Pounds. 

 165 



1-2-2 



Bushels. 

 33 



36 3-5 

 24 2-5 



June 16. 

 June 20. 

 June 14. 



The straw was weighed June 30. 



Brunsvtick cabbage and the Xocera onion. — While the Depart- 

 ment aims at all times to introduce superior varieties of vegetable-seeds, 

 very great importance attaches to careful and methodical cultivation. 

 It is clearly the duty, as it is the interest, of recipients of varieties of 

 pronounced excellence to care for them with scrupulous regard. In a 

 statement of Mr. Cook, of Baldwin County, Georgia, recently made to 

 this Department, there is evidence of such regard worthy of especial 

 commendation. His experiment was confined to the Brunswick cabbage 

 and the extra early IS^ocera onion. He says that it is a very prevalent 

 notion among the farmers in that part of Georgia that cabbage cannot 

 be grown successfullj^, believing which the majority continue to grow 

 calewort, and look upon an eight-pound cabbage, if home-grown, (re- 

 ferring to his own success,) as something almost wonderful. " Let them 

 procure seed of the Brunswick, and raise strong, healthy ]3lants by thin- 

 ning out liberally ; make their laud rich, and plow deep. Set out up to 

 the first leaf, (very important,) and cultivate carefully, and they will 

 soon discover that they have been laboring under a mistake," is the 

 advice and prediction of Mr. Cook. 



Mr. C.'s method with his cabbage was as follows : 



Planted the seed in a cold frame February 10 ; transplanted to soil of 

 medium fertility March 20. The land had been deeply plowed and 

 manured a month before ; raw cotton-seed applied broadcast before 

 plowing, at the rate of 100 bushels to the acre ; when the plants were 

 ready, the soil was freshened hj a shovel-plow, dispensing with the har- 

 row. The x)lants were set out 3 by 3 feet apart, during a light rain. Two 

 days after two tablespoonfuls of superphosphate was applied to each plant 

 by sprinkling on the surface and slightly raking in. The cultivation 

 consisted of two plowings and three hoeiugs. Four applications of 

 land-plaster were made, following as many rains. The first head was 

 cut May 2G, and nine-tenths of the product were marketed by July 

 10, the heads ranging from 4 to 8 pounds in weight. Comparatively 

 few plants failed to head ; but for the cabbage- worm, 99 per cent, would 

 have headed. These insects were unusually destructive, and would 

 not yield to plaster alone. In brief, Mr. C. says that, after having tried 

 all the leading varieties of cabbage except the Early Wyman, he is de- 

 cidedly in favor of the Brunswick. 



In regard to the Is"ocera onion his praise is unqualified. Seeds for 

 "sets" and for large onions were planted February 10, and on June 15 

 both were harvested. The average diameter of the onions was three 

 inches, and the sets were very fine, and yielded well. 



