CABBAGE. 147 



the warmth of the season. Plants, if large enough, may 

 be put out about November 1st, and successively, 

 whenever circumstances are favorable, until January 

 1st. After this date, successful marketing will be more 

 doubtful, although in case of loss by freezing, well-grown, 

 sturdy plants, put out up to February 1st, as far north 

 as Savannah, may come in early enough to anticipate the 

 Norfolk crop. 



When a plant is pulled from the seed-bed, the tap-root 

 will probably be so shortened as to encourage the emis- 

 sion of numerous new fibrous roots. If not, its extremity 

 should be pinched off. If the roots are puddled, they 

 are more apt to take root promptly. This is done by 

 making a mush or mud of clay, fresh cow dung and 

 water, or of clay, or soil and some weak solution of 

 any fertilizer, stirring it up to form a mixture as thick 

 as cream. The roots of the plants are to be dipped in 

 this, and if the plants are kept in the shade for twenty- 

 four hours, young rootlets will commence to grow; but 

 the plants must not be exposed to dry ness, until the roots 

 are in the soil. Puddling is not a necessary operation. 



Should a drouth prevail during the whole proper 

 transplanting season, watering during the process may 

 be indispensable on very light soil. In such rare con- 

 tingency a weak liquid manure is better than pure water. 



The stems of all the plants of the Brassica genus 

 are the most vulnerable part; to protect these from frost, 

 to place the extremity of the root nearer to moisture, 

 to encourage the formation of roots along the inserted 

 stem, and finally, to secure the plant more firmly in the 

 soil, it should be planted down to the stalk of the up- 

 permost leaf, or very nearly to the crown of the plant. 



Though occasionally planted closer together, the proper 

 distance for Winningstadt, and other compactly-growing 

 varieties, is eighteen inches in the row, and for the 

 Brunswick, and other large kinds, from twenty-one to 



