CABBAGES 



Taking them up and replanting them closely in a sloping manner 

 and covering them with straw ; putting them in pits ; hanging 

 them up in a barn ; turning their heads downwards and covering 

 them with earth, leaving the roots sticking up in the air : in short 

 every scheme, except one, was attended with great labour, and 

 some of them forbade the hope of being able to preserve any 

 considerable quantity ; and this one was as follows : I made a 

 sort of land with the plough, and made it pretty level at top. 

 Upon this land I laid some straw. I then took the cabbages, 

 turned them upside down, and placed them (first taking off all 

 decayed leaves) about six abreast upon the straw. Then covered 

 them, not very thickly, with leaves raked up in the woods, flinging 

 now and then a little dirt (boughs of any sort would be better) to 

 prevent the leaves from being carried off by the wind. So that, 

 when the work was done, the thing was a bed of leaves with 

 cabbage-roots sticking up through it. I only put on enough 

 leaves to hide all the green. If the frost came and prevented the 

 taking up of the cabbages, roots and all, they might be cut off 

 close to the ground. The root, I dare say, is of no use in the 

 preservation. In the months of April and May, I took cabbages 

 of all sorts from this land perfectly good and fresh. The quantity, 

 preserved thus, was small. It might amount to 200 cabbages. 

 But, it was quite sufficient for the purpose. Not only did the 

 cabbages keep better in this, than in any other way, but there they 

 were, at all times, ready. The frost had locked up all those which 

 were covered with earth, and those which lay with heads upwards 

 and their roots in the ground were rotting. But, to this land I 

 could have gone at any time, and have brought away, if the 

 quantity had been large, a waggon load in ten minutes. If they 

 had been covered with snozv (no matter how deep) by uncovering 

 twenty feet in length (a work of little labour) half a ton of cabbages 

 would have been got at. This year, thinking that my Savoys, 

 which are, at once, the best in quality and best to keep, of all 

 winter cabbages, may be of use to send to New York, I have 

 planted them between rows of Broom-Corn. The Broom- Corn 

 is in rows, eight feet apart. This enabled us to plough deep 

 between the Broom-Corn, which, though in poor land, has been 

 very fine. The heads are cut off ; and now the stalks remain to 

 be used as follows : I shall make lands up the piece, cut off the 

 stalks and lay them, first a layer longways and then a layer cross- 

 ways, upon the lands. Upon these I shall put my Savoys turned 

 upside down ; and, as the stalks will be more than sufficient for 

 this purpose, I shall lay some of them over, instead of dirt or 

 boughs, as mentioned before. Perhaps the leaves of the Broom- 

 Corn, which are lying about in great quantities, may suffice for 

 covering. And, thus, all the materials for the work are upon the 

 spot. 



172. In quitting this matter, I may observe, that, to cover 

 cabbages thus, in gardens as well as fields, would, in many cases, 



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