GENERAL CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT. Oil 



men for small or middle-sized gardens, and half an ounce will be 

 enough where several sub-varieties are sown; as, for example, of 

 broccoli. The seed comes up in ten days or a fortnight, according to 

 the season. In early spring, when it is desirable to advance the plants 

 as rapidly as possible, the seed should be sown in light rich soil in a 

 warm situation ; but in autumn, when the great object is to produce 

 plants of firm texture that will resist the winter, a poor and rather 

 stiff or clayey soil is preferable. The plants are mostly transplanted 

 with the dibber as soon as they have made four or five leaves ; but it 

 is best to pick out of the seed-beds into other ground the whole tribe 

 of such plants, placing them from three to four inches apart, and 

 finally removing them into rows with a spade or trowel. Bury the 

 stem of the plants up to the leaves, and compress the soil firmly 

 round both root and stem in planting. As all the kinds have the 

 property of rooting freely from the stems, the plants, excepting the 

 few that are stemless, are strengthened by being earthed up ; and to 

 increase the depth of this earthing, they are planted in drills two or 

 three inches deep. All the varieties require an open, airy situation, 

 for no one ever found the cabbage in a wild state in hedges or woods ; 

 but it should be sheltered from high winds, as plants on the sea-shore, 

 whether among cliffs or on the beach, generally are. A small reserve of 

 plants should always be preserved to make up for failures or runaways. 

 The soil can hardly be too rich and deep for these crops. The roots 

 will run down from four to five feet. Calcareous soils and open 

 situations yield the best results. And the whole tribe require liberal 

 watering in dry weather, as they are greedy of water, clean or foul ; 

 they thrive admirably and produce immense weights of cheap food 

 when treated to sewage or liquid manure. It is highly probable that 

 the plants would be benefited by a slight sprinkling of common sea- 

 salt given once to each crop in an early stage of its progress. The 

 soil should always be more or less calcareous ; not only as the plant 

 grows naturally on limestone or chalky cliffs and shores, but because 

 the finest-flavoured cabbages and broccolis in England are produced 

 in gardens in Kent on the south bank of the Thames, made in old 

 chalk-pits. As the leaves of all the kinds are naturally large and 

 succulent, they present a large perspiring surface, and therefore, to 

 maintain this succulency in long-continued droughts, the plants should 

 be liberally supplied with water ; and as they are all gross feeders, 

 they may all be watered with liquid manure. In all the sprouting 

 varieties, when the stem is to be preserved for this purpose, the leaves 

 should be taken off, that the sap may be thrown into the buds ; and 

 when these do not break freely, it will be facilitated by slitting the 

 stem from an inch or two below the top to within an inch or two of 

 the bottom, keeping the slit open with a bit of stick or a small stone ; 

 or the same object may be effected by cutting a notch above the buds. 

 The hearting or heading, and consequently the blanching of all the 

 kinds, will be promoted by loosely tying up the leaves, as soon as the 

 plants show an indication of hearting, with strands of matting ; and 

 this may be usefully practised with the earliest spring cabbages, and 



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