604 



CABBAGE 



70S. Section of cabbage 

 head, showing the thickened 

 rachis and leaf-stalks, and the 

 buds in the axils. 



especiallv' ip" JSTew York; OKic, Indiana, Michigan and 

 Wisconsin, near the Greai takes, or where smaller but 

 deep .inland, lakes, abound, in -tfhich cabbage does 

 excerrtiou&Uj' weli, fcutrgenej-aljy , jn -common with most 

 cruciferous' plants',' they 'dtf better hear the sea, in such 

 locations as the Eastern 

 Shore of Maryland, Long 

 Island and Puget Sound 

 regions, than in the interior 

 or on the borders of even 

 very large bodies of fresh 

 water. 



As the plant is a native 

 of the temperate zone, and 

 thrives best in it, and cannot 

 long endure high tempera- 

 tures, one does not think 

 of it as particularly sun- 

 loving; but there are few 

 garden plants to which abun- 

 dant sunlight is more essen- 

 tial and shade more detri- 

 mental than the cabbage. 

 In its native habitat, the 

 plants are found growing alone or in small open groups 

 where they are fully exposed to the sun. Similar condi- 

 tions are essential to its best development under culti- 

 vation so that it can rarely be profitably grown in the 

 shade or in crowded groups or rows, and "shooting to 

 seed" or other failure to form a head is often due to 

 the crowding of the seedlings in the seed-row. 



The cabbage is one of the grossest and least fastidi- 

 ous feeders of cultivated plants, and while an abun- 

 dance of easily accessible food is essential for its profit- 

 able culture, it is less particular than most plants 

 as to its proportions and physical condition, if only it 

 has an abundance. Large crops of the best quality 

 are often produced by the use of fresh green and uncom- 

 posted manures in almost Limitless quantities. Some 

 growers object to the use of manure from hog-pens, 

 yet some of the largest, healthiest and best crops ever 

 seen have been grown by the liberal use of hog manure. 

 Strange as it may seem, abundant fertilization hastens 

 rather than retards the plant reaching marketable 

 condition. 



The plant is more particular as to its water-supply 

 than its food-supply, and suffers even more quickly 

 than most vegetables from a lack of sufficient moisture 

 in the air or soil. On the other hand, it cannot long 

 endure an excess, particularly in the soil, and soon 

 succumbs to wet feet. A well-drained soil which at the 

 same time is fairly retentive of moisture is essential 

 to profitable cabbage-culture. 



Even more than with most garden vegetables, the 

 physical condition of the soil is a most important factor 

 in determining the development of the cabbage. Large 

 and often very profitable crops may be grown on soils 

 which would be classed as clay, loam, gravel, sand or 

 muck, provided they are rich and friable, but seldom 

 a large, or profitable crop can be grown on even a 

 very fertile soil which after rains quickly hardens and 

 bakes so as to be impervious to air. Permanent fria- 

 bility rather than superior fertility makes some soils ex- 

 ceedingly profitable for cabbage, while it is difficult and 

 often impossible to grow a paying crop on others which 

 are even richer and better watered, but which are liable 

 o cake ^after every rain. This is especially true of 

 some soils that are generally classed as a very rich 

 clay or muck. Permanent friability is the most essen- 

 tial quality for profitable cabbage-culture, and the want 

 it the most common cause of failure to grow a 

 profitable crop. 



Varieties of cabbage. Figs. 701-704, 707. 

 Few vegetables show a wider range of variation, 

 e are sorts that can be grown to edible maturity 



-on a square foot and in 90 to 120 days from the seed, 

 while others can hardly be crowded into a square yard 

 or reach prime edible maturity in less than 200 days; 

 sorts so short-stemmed that the flat head seems to rest 

 on the ground, others in which the globular head 

 crowns a stalk 16 to 20 inches long; kinds in which the 

 leaves are long, round, or broad, smooth, or savoyed, 

 light yellowish green, dark green or so dark red as to 

 seem black, with surfaces which are glazed, smooth, or 

 covered with thick bloom. There are many early- 

 maturing kinds, each having characteristics adapting 

 them for different cultural conditions and uses, that 

 will, in fertile soil and a temperature between 60 and 

 80 by day, and never below 40 at night, form salable 

 heads in 90 to 110 or 120 days from the germina- 

 tion of the seed; others that mature in mid-season; 

 still others that grow the entire season and increase 

 in solidity even while stored for winter. 



American seedsmen offer cabbage seed under over 

 500 more or less distinct varietal names, a large propor- 

 tion of which stand for different stocks rather than 

 for distinct varietal forms: here only the most dis- 

 tinct types and the most commonly used names are 

 mentioned. 



Early York, Elampes, Large York, etc. Very compact, upright- 

 growing smooth-leaved sorts which are comparatively tender to 

 both heat and cold, and form vertically oval comparatively soft 

 heads of excellent quality, but better suited to European than 

 American climatic conditions and market requirements. 



Early Jersey, Large Wakefield, Winnigstadt, etc. Compact- 



f rowing, very sure-heading sorts which are very hardy to both 

 eat and cold and form comparatively small, but closely wrapped 

 hard sharply conical heads which are of attractive appearance, 

 but not of the best quality. Well suited to the general soil and cli- 

 matic conditions and very popular in America. 



Enkhuizen Glory, Early Summer, Fottler's Drumhead, etc. 

 Second-early sorts, forming small compact to large spreading short- 

 stemmed plants, and nearly round to distinctly flat heads which 

 mature quickly, are of good quality but not well adapted for distant 

 shipment or winter storage. 



Flat Dutch, Drumhead, Ballhead or Hollander, etc. Large 

 spreading comparatively slow-growing plants, forming round to 

 oval hard heads, having the leaves very closely wrapped and over- 

 lapping in the center. They are generally good keepers, often 

 improving not only in solidity but in quality during storage. 



Savoys. A class in which the leaves of both plant and head are 

 crumpled or savoyed instead of smooth as in the preceding. There 

 are varieties of all the forms of smooth-leaved sorts. The plants 

 are hardy, butsare slow to form heads, which are likely to be small 



706. Curled kale. Brassica oleracea var. acephala. 



and more or less open or loose-centered, but they are of superior 

 flavor, and this class is worthy of more general cultivation in the 

 home-garden and for local market. 



Red cabbage. A class of which there are many varietal forms, 

 and in which the plants and heads vary from purple shaded green 

 to deep red. The heads are generally small, but very solid and 

 are especially suited for use as "cold slaw." 



Portugal Sea-Kale, Tronchuda or Chinese cabbage. These 

 are distinct classes and species of cabbage, intermediate in char- 

 acter between the more common sorts and the more distant kales. 

 They have never become generally popular in America, though 

 they are rather largely grown and used by the Asiatics, particularly 

 on the Pacific coast. The sea-kale cabbage is not to be confounded 

 with sea-kale, which is a very different plant. 



