CABBAGE 



CABBAGE 



605 



These are but a few of the almost limitless, more or 

 less distinct variations offered by seedsmen, yet each 

 of them was thought by someone to be superior in 

 some location, under some conditions, or for some 

 purpose. The general recognition of the value of each 

 variation, and the consequent popularity of the sorts 

 in which the variation is best developed, are constantly 

 changing, partly because of local conditions of climate, 

 but more largely because of changes in transportation 

 and market facilities and conditions. 



Cultural methods. 



Ideal climatic conditions are found only in very 

 limited areas, and the common cultural practice in 

 each locality is largely shaped by the degree to which 

 local conditions approach them. In the country north 

 of Washington in which a well-lighted and heated 

 greenhouse and experienced help are available, the 

 simplest method, and one by which the very best of 

 early cabbage can be grown, is to plant the seed in flats 

 some sixty to ninety days before danger of killing by 

 frost is past, and as soon as the central bud or leaves 

 appear (which should be in ten to fourteen days) to 

 "prick out" the plants, setting them 2 to 4 inches 

 apart in other flats, according to the relative impor- 

 tance in that particular culture of earliness and cost 

 of production. The house should be given abundant 

 ventilation, and temperatures exceeding 70 or 85 by 

 day and 50 or 60 at night carefully avoided. Often it 

 will be found very advantageous, as soon as the plants 

 are well established, to remove them to well-lighted 

 coldframes. These should be carefully tended in order 

 to give all the air possible, and to avoid over-heating by 

 the sun or falling below 35 at night, and the plants 

 transferred to the open ground as early as this can be 

 done without danger from killing frosts. Some very 

 successful growers plant seed in well-protected cold- 

 frames so as to secure a thin, even stand, and by careful 

 attention secure a slow but steady growth through the 

 winter, and the seedlings are first transplanted to the 

 open ground as soon as danger from killing frosts is 

 over. A common practice from Philadelphia or Balti- 

 more southward is to sow the seed in the fall in care- 

 fully prepared beds in sheltered locations, and, as soon 

 as the plants are large enough, to transplant them to 

 flat-topped ridges about 30 to 36 inches from center to 

 center and as high as can be formed by two or three 

 back-furrows. These ridges usually are run east to 

 west and the plants are set on the south, the north or the 

 top, or sometimes in the furrow between them, depend- 

 ing upon the judgment of the planter as to which loca- 

 tion will give the best result on that particular farm 

 and exposure and in that particular season, as some- 

 times one and sometimes another location gives the best 

 results. In some sections and often only on certain 

 farms of a section this method gives large very early- 

 maturing and profitable crops, while in different fields, 

 even on the same farm, a large proportion of the 

 plants so handled will be killed by frost or will shoot 

 to seed without heading. In certain locations, notably 

 in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina, cabbage- 

 plant farms have been established, from which plants 

 in prime condition for setting in the field can be 

 secured by the million. The location and exposure, and 

 the character of the soil of the most successful of these 

 farms is such that the plants are rarely killed or seri- 

 ously checked by frost, but make a constant but slow 

 growth all winter and can be pulled at any time so as to 

 retain abundant root and vigor and be safely shipped 

 long distances. The seed is sown and the plant-beds 

 treated much as one would treat a bed of onions for 

 sets or pickles, except that in many cases the rows are 

 as close as 3 inches and the bed receives little or no 

 cultivation after the seed is planted. 



Objections that are sometimes well founded to 

 plants from such farms are, that they are slow "taking 



hold" and a large proportion of them "shoot to seed" 

 without heading, or the heads are small and of poor 

 quality; but such failures often come from the use by 

 the plant-raiser of cheap and inferior seed, or from the 

 crowded rows and careless handling, or from the 

 farmer sending for and setting the plants too early, or 

 from holding them too long before setting. Some 

 plant-raisers take pains to advertise that they do not 

 guarantee plants shipped by them before December 

 1 to give satisfactory results (though they often do), 

 but that they are willing to guarantee that plants 

 shipped by them from December 1 to April 1 will, 

 in suitable soil and exposure and with good cultivation, 

 produce full crops of marketable cabbage. Most 

 farmers who use 20,000 to 30,000 plants could grow 

 on their own farms as good plants or better than 

 they could buy from even the best and most reliable 

 growers, and often at materially less cost; but it is 



707. Cabbage shapes: Flat; round or ball; egg-shaped; 

 oval; conical. 



questionable whether many of them would do so, and 

 it is not surprising that the practice of buying plants, 

 particularly when earliness in market maturity is 

 desirable, is rapidly extending. 



The best distance between plants will depend not 

 only upon the variety used but upon the character of 

 the soil, kind of labor available and the condition and 

 way in which the crop is to be marketed. Such small 

 upright-growing sorts as Early York, Etampes, or true 

 Jersey Wakefield, which are to be marketed when 

 still quite soft, can be well grown set as close as 6 or 8 

 by 18 to 24 inches, requiring 20,000 to 30,000 plants to 

 the acre; but in America such close planting necessi- 

 tates so much hand labor that it is seldom profitable, 

 and 8 to 12 by 28 to 30 or 36 inches, requiring from 

 8,000 to 15,000 or 20,000 plants to the acre, is usually 

 found the more profitable distance. 



The best method of setting, whether by hand, hand- 

 planters, or machine, will be determined by local con- 

 ditions. The plants should "take hold" in two to 

 four days and start into vigorous growth in ten 

 days to three weeks, the time depending upon the con- 

 dition of the plants, and the way they are handled, 

 quite as much as upon the weather. After active growth 

 has commenced, it should continue at a constantly 

 accelerated rate until the head begins to harden, and 

 although toward the last the plants may not seem to 

 increase in size, the heads will gain in weight. The cab- 

 bage suffers less than most vegetables from mutilation 

 of the root, yet deep cultivation is undesirable because 

 unnecessary. The essential thing is to prevent any- 

 crusting over, and the keeping of the surface in such 

 good tilth as to permit of the free aeration of the soil. 



