Cultivation of Arable Land. Cabbage* Application of Crops of. ] 81 



probably to be preferred. That the application of this fort of crop in this way has 

 been fcarcely attended to is fully (hewn by the obfefvation of Mr. Marfliall, in his 

 Account of the Midland Diflricts, who regiflers it as extraordinary, that neither 

 in that nor any other diflrict an inftance had been met with of cabbages being 

 made ufe of in the way of food for horfes. 



Where cabbages are employed for winter and early fpring confumption, it has 

 been advifed by fome cultivators to have ihem cut or drawn while in full perfec 

 tion, and piled up in houfes for the purpofe, or flacked in the open air, being 

 clofely covered over by means of fh aw, broom, rufhes, or any other fimilar cheap 

 material ; as in this way they areconflantly ready and at hand, when they cannot 

 be procured from the field, on account of the wetnefs of the land or the effects of 

 froft and fnow.* The practice is find to have been made ufe of in Germany with 

 fuch fuccefs as to keep them in a good flate of prefervation during the whole of the 

 winter feafon. P rom the fweet juicy nature of the vegetable, we are, however, 

 difpofed to believe that it will be liable, in this method, to be injured, not only 

 by taking on too much heat, but by becoming mouldy. Befides, by keeping in 

 fuch ftacks they, like the turnip, fhrink confiderably, and are probably much 

 impaired in their quality. 



In carting this fort of crop from the ground the fame attention mould be had 

 to the wheels of the carts and the horfes palling in the ridge furrows only as has 

 been advifed for turnip crops. 



In whatever manner cabbages are confumed, it is of importance to the fuc- 

 ceeding crops that they be wholly removed from the land in the early part of the 

 fpring, before they begin to throw up their flowering; flems and run to feed. 



On the whole, as cabbages may be cultivated at no great expence, are much 

 lefs expofed to danger, and capable of refilling the fe verity of the winter feafon 

 more effectually than turnips, and at the fame time become equally palatable 

 and nutritious to various kinds of animals, there cannot be any doubt but that 

 they may be had recourfe to with great advantage in fuch foils and fituations as 

 are not adapted to the turnip hufbandry, and efpecially wherever a large pro 

 portion of green food is wanted for the fupport of milch-cows in autumn and 

 winter. 



It has indeed been fuggefled by a late writer, that in cafes where turnip crops 

 have either wholly or in part failed, and the foils are of an ordinary depth, the 

 lands may be recropped with cabbages at a cheap rate, and with the great- 



* Farmer s Magazine, vol. JII. 



