[ 112 ] [Part 11. 



Cabbages. 



166. I had some hogs to keep, and, as my Swedish 

 Turnips (Ruta Baga) Mould be gone by July, or be- 

 fore, 1 wished them to be succeeded by cabbages. I 

 made a hot-bed on the 20th of March, which ought to 

 have been made more than a month earher ; but, I 

 had been in Pennsylvania, and did not return home till 

 the 13/A of March. It requires a little time to mix 

 and turn the dung in order to prepare it for a hot-bed ; 

 so that mine was not a very good one ; and then my 



frame was hastily patched up, and its covering con- 

 sisted of some old broken sashes of windows. A very 

 shabby concern ; but, in this bed I sowed cabbages and 

 cauliflowers. The seed came up, and the plants, though 

 standing too thick, grew pretty well. From this bed, they 

 would, if I had had time, have been transplanted into 

 another, at about two and a half or three inches apart. 

 But, such as they were, very much drawn up, I began 

 planting them out as soon as they were about four 

 inches high. 



167. It was the \2th of May before they attained 

 this height, and I then began planting them out in a 

 piece of ground, pretty good, and deeply ploughed by 

 oxen. My cauliflowers, of which there were about 

 three thousand, were k)o late to flower, Avhich they 

 never will do, unless the flower have begun to shew 

 itself before the great heat comes. However, these 

 plants grew very large, and afforded a great quantity 

 of food for pigs. The outside leaves and stems were 

 eaten by sows, store-pigs, a cow, and some oxen ; the 

 hearts, which were very tender and nearly of the Cau- 

 liflower-taste, were boiled in a large cast-iron caldron, 

 and, mixed with a little rye-meal, given to sows and 

 young pigs. 1 should suppose, that these three thou- 

 sand plants weighed twelve hundred pounds, and they 

 stood upon about half an acre of land. I gave these 

 to the animals early in July. 



168. The Cabbages, sown in the bed, consisted partly 

 of Early Yorks, the seed of which had been sent me 

 along with the Cauliflower seed, from England, and 



