Chap. III.] Cabbages, 12l 



cessary to be taken to see that they be not too thick in 

 the seed-bed, 



183. As to the preparation of the land, as to the 

 manuring, as to the distance ot* the rows from each 

 other, as to the act of planling, and as to the after cul- 

 ture, all are tlie same as in the case of transplanted 

 Swedish Turnips ; and, therefore, as to these matters, 

 the reader has seen enough in Part 1. There is one 

 observation to make, as to the depth to wliich tlie plant 

 should be put into the ground. It should be placed so 

 deep, that the stems of tlie outside leaves be just clear 

 of the {/round ; for, if you put the plant deeper, the 

 rain will wash the loose eartli in amongst the stems of 

 the leaves, which will make an open poor cabbage; 

 and, if the plant be placed so low as for the heart to be 

 covered iciih dirt, the plant, thought it w ill live, will 

 come to nothing. Great care must, therefore, be taken 

 as to this matter. If tlie stem of the plant be long, 

 roots will burst out nearly all tlie way up to tlie surface 

 of the earth. 



18-1. The distances at which cabbages ought to stand 

 in the rows must depend on the sorts. The following 

 is nearly about tlie mark. Early Salisbury a ^oo?; 

 Early York fifteen inches; Early Battersea ticenty 

 inches; Sugar Loaf two feet; Savoys two leet and a 

 half; and the Drum-head, Thousand-headed, Large 

 Hollow, Ox-cabbage, aW four feet. 



185. With regard to the time of sowim/ some more 

 ought to be said ; for, we are not here, as in England, 

 confined within four or five degrees of latitude. Here 

 some of us are living in fine, warm weather, while others 

 of us are living amid^st snows. It will be better, there- 

 fore, in giving opinions about times, to speak oi seasons, 

 and not of months and da\s. The country people, in 

 England, go, to this tlay, many of tlicin, at leii-st, by liie 

 tides; and, what is supremely ridiculous, they go, in 

 some cases, by the moveahlc tides. My gardener, at 

 Botley, very reluctantly obeyed me, one year, in sow- 

 ing green Kale when I ordered him to do it, because 

 Whitsuntide was not come, and that, he said, was the 

 proper season. " But," said I, " Robinson, Whitsuntide 

 " comes later tills year than it did last year." " Later y 

 G 



