200 



CABBAGE 



distribution and the degree to wliich the plant-food has 

 become immediately available is of equal or greater 

 importance than the quantity. Land can be put into 

 the best condition for raising a maximun crop by a 

 heavy dressing of stable manui'e, thoroughly worked into 

 a well-drained, loamy soil, and repeating the process 

 yearly for several seasons. A much heavier dressing of 

 manure can be profitably applied to a soil which has 

 been well fertilized in previous years than to one which 

 has received little or none. The most successful grow- 

 ers use large quantities of manure, often as high as one 

 hundred tons to the acre. When stable manure cannot 

 be readily obtained, it may be supplemented by com- 

 mercial fertilizers, so made np as to contain about 

 seven parts of nitrogen to eight of available phosphoric 

 acid and about six of potash. If we di-prncl entirely 

 upon fertilizers, we should use from 2,000 to:!, (Inn pnunds 

 to the acre, and we should not forget that upon ;ill ordi- 

 nary soils the yield and profitableness of a crop of 

 Cabbage is largely dependent upon the amount of avail- 

 able and evenly distributed plant-food and the degree 

 to which the soil is kept always moist, and more with 

 conditions which can only be secured by frequent and 

 thorough cultivation. 



Diseases and Some of the Most Common Insect 

 Pests. — 6'/«6->-oo/. — This is the effect of a fungus {Plas- 

 midiophora Brassica), which develops within the cells 

 of the root, causing them to become distorted and the 

 plant to develop imperfectly or die. On the death of 

 the plant, the spores of the fungus become mixed with 

 the soil, where they lie dormant until roots of some 

 other host-plant come in contact with them, and the 

 conditions are favorable for their development. They 

 develop within several of our common weeds, and we 

 believe that the spores are to be found in most of our 

 cultivated fields, and need only favorable conditions to 

 develop. We have found that the disease is seldom 

 troublesome except where the cultural conditions, par- 

 ticularly as to moisture, are unfavorable to the Cab- 

 bage, and that the best preventive is careful attention 

 to the health and vigor of the plant. We know of no 

 practical remedy where a plant or field is badly affected. 



Flea Beetle.— A small, quick-moving black insect 

 (Phyllofreta vittata), which sometimes destroys the 

 seedlings before they have formed true leaves. By at- 

 tending to them promptly, we have always succeeded in 

 protecting our plants by du.sting them with tobacco 

 dust, used liberally and as often as necessary, which 

 may be twice a day. A great deal depends upon using 

 the tobacco as soon as the first beetles appear. It is a 

 great deal easier to keep them off than to dislodge them 

 after they arconce there. 



Cabbage Moot Maijrjot (PJwrbia Brassime). — This is 

 the larva of a fly very much like the common house fly, 

 though a little smaller. They appear in the latitude 



297. A modern Cabbage head— Early Flat Dutch. 



of Detroit early in May, and the female deposits her 

 eggs in the ground at or close to the plant, usually put- 

 ting her abdomen into the opening in the soil formed 

 by the movement of the plant by the wind. The eggs 

 hatch in a few days, and the maggots feed upon the 

 roots and soon destroy them. An effective but costly 



CABBAGE 



preventive, only practicable for use on early plants of 

 high prospective value, is to surround the plants with 

 shields formed of octagon pieces of tarred paper about 

 three inches across, and having a small hole in the cen- 

 ter, from which there is a slit to one edge, by means of 



298. Section of Cabbage head. 



Showing the tliickened rachis and leaf-stalks, and the 

 buds in the axils. 



which the guard can be slipped around the plant and 

 pressed down on the ground, so that the fly is prevented 

 from laying her eggs in the earth, and, laid on the sur- 

 face, they will perish for want of moisture. We have 

 also done much to prevent injury by scattering among 

 the plants bits of sticky fly-paper, by means of which a 

 great many of the flies are caught and killed. It is 

 important that the paper should be put out early, so as 

 to catch as many as possible before they have laid their 

 eggs. In the seed-bed, the maggot can be destroyed by 

 injecting bisulfide of carbon about the roots from a 

 syringe, or pouring it into a hole and quickly closing 

 the hole (cf. Slingerland, Bull. 78, Cornell Exp. Sta.). 



Tlie Green Cabbage Worm (Pieris Bapa^. — We hstve 

 succeeded best in protecting our young plants from 

 worms by spraying with Paris green and water in 

 about the proportions used for potato bugs. As the plants 

 become larger, and the use of the poison objectionable, 

 we dust the plants with pyrethrum powder, which, if 

 pure, will be very effective. 



Hak%'esting, Storing and Marketing.— Nearly all 

 of a well-grown crop of Cabbage of a good stock will 

 mature at about the same time, and, while the earlier 

 sorts remain in prime condition but a few days, the 

 later ones remain so for two or three weeks, and can be 

 stored so as to be salable for several months. Often the 

 maturing of the crop can be delayed to advantage by 

 partially pulling the plants and pressing them over to 

 the north. The southern crop is usually marketed from 

 the field as soon as it is fit, being sent forward in open 

 crates containing from two to ten dozen heads. The 

 early fall market is usually supplied by local growers, 

 who deliver direct to retailers. The late fall crop is 

 often shipped long distances in open or well ventilated 

 cars. At the north they may be stored till spring. We 

 have tried more than a score of -highly praised methods 

 of storing, and found that each, under certain condi- 

 tions, had advantages, but we have found that generally 

 the best and most certainly successful plan, at least for 

 the latitude of Detroit, is to store in trenches, as fol- 

 lows : Plow and replow several times a strip of well- 

 drained sandy land, where there is no danger from sur- 

 face water, and open a trench some 10 inches deep and 

 about 20 inches wide. Then pull the Cabbages, remove 

 a few of the outer leaves, stand them on their heads for 



