RED CABBAGE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, BORECOLE, ETC. 607 



sprouts, and raising many usefiil varieties, such as the Dalmeny and the 

 Albert sprout. These, if sown in March or April, yield abundance 

 of small cabbages on the stems throughout the winter. 



The red cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata rubra, Dec.), is chiefly 

 used for pickling, though sometimes for sauerkraut. The seed is 

 mostly sown in autumn, and treated in all respects like the autumn- 

 sown white cabbage. The dwarf red is esteemed the best sub-v iriety. 



The Savoy (B. oleracea var. bullata major, Dec.), has wrinkled leaves, 

 but in most other respects it resembles the common cabbage, an 1 may 

 be cultivated in the same manner. As it is chiefly used during vinter, 

 and after it has been mellowed by frost, sow in March and A >ril for 

 planting out from June to August. The best varieties are the Drum- 

 heads, Dwarf Green Curled, Mitchell's Green Globe, and th >. New 

 Feather-stemmed (like Brussels sprouts, with Savoys all up the s ems). 



Brussels sprouts (B. oleracea bullata gemmifera, Dec. ; Chou de 

 Bruxelles, or a jets, Fr.), differ from the Savoy in forming small 

 green heads like miniature Savoy cabbages along its stem, which oft' n 

 grows three feet or four feet high. These miniature cabbages are 

 used as winter greens, or with a sauce composed of vinegar, butter, 

 and nutmeg, poured upon them hot after they have been boiled. 

 The top, or terminal cabbage, is very delicate when dressed, and 

 quite different in flavour from the side cabbages. The best varieties 

 are the Imported, Scrymger's Giant, Improved Dwarf, and the two 

 hybrids before adverted to under coleworts. Sow in February and 

 March, and transplant into rows, eighteen inches apart every way, in 

 June. The side leaves are sometimes taken off as the plants advance 

 in height, to throw more sap into the buds which form the sprouts, or 

 side cabbages ; these come into use after the first frost. 



Borecole (B. oleracea acephala sabellica, Dec. ; Chou vert, or non 

 pomme, Fr.). Of this variety there are many sub-varieties, but the 

 best are the Dwarf Green Scotch kale, syns. German greens, curlies ; 

 the Tall Green Scotch kale, Scotch cabbaging or hearting asparagus 

 kale, and Veitch's Late Green curled. For very cold late situations, 

 there is the Jerusalem kale, syn. Ragged Jack, a dwarf sub-variety, 

 with long, serrated leaves, which being produced close to the ground, 

 the plants are less injured by the frost than those of the taller 

 varieties. The Buda, syn. Russian kale, is so dwarf as scarcely 

 to have any stem, and is very hardy. The sprouts of this kind may 

 be blanched like sea -kale, by turning a pot over the plant early in 

 spring. A.S all the borecoles are only wanted during winter and 

 spring to supply the place of cabbage, the seeds are sown in April, 

 or later, and the plants put out, where they are finally to remain, in 

 June ; or earlier or later, according to the situation and the ground 

 which may become vacant. The distance of the Scotch kale may be 

 two feet between the rows, and eighteen inches in the row ; those of the 

 Buda and Jerusalem kale may be a few inches less. Within these few 

 years great improvements have been made by Mr. Melville and others 

 in raising variegated varieties of borecole for garnishing desserts and 

 filling flower beds, and some of these strains are very beautiful, and 



