608 



CABBAGE 



character, rather than from those in which it was 

 exceptionally well developed. Often even professional 

 seed-growers have but a very vague and constantly 

 changing conception of what a given variety should be. 

 The greatest profit is not from the field that pro- 

 duces even a good many of the most perfect speci- 

 mens, but from that in which the largest proportion of 

 the plants are most uniformly of the desired character. 

 In order to produce seed which will give such results, 

 one must first form a very clear conception of just 

 what one wants in plant and head, and learn the rela- 

 tion between easily noted but economically unimpor- 

 tant qualities, and others not so easily seen but more 

 important in determining value. Having selected a 

 number of ideal plants, one should grow these either 

 singly, or in groups of three or four that are nearest 

 alike. Save and number the seed of each plant sepa- 

 rately and plant a small sample of each number, care- 

 fully noting the numbers in which the product was 

 most uniformly of the desired character. From the 



reserved seed 

 of the num- 

 bers which 

 most uni- 

 formly devel- 

 oped the de- 

 sired form, 

 one can start 

 a stock for 

 field plant- 

 ing. It is not 

 safe, how- 

 ever, to rest 

 there; one 

 must start a 

 new selection 

 of the desired 

 character so 

 as to contin- 

 ually renew 

 one's stock. 

 In raising 

 seed, plant- 

 ings should be made a little later than one would for fall 

 market cabbage. As the plants develop, each lot should 

 be repeatedly looked over and not only those which show 

 no disposition to form a head, or one in which the 

 inclosing leaves do not pass over the center, but also 

 those which show any departure (even if it be of itself 

 a desirable one) from the desired form, should be 

 removed. The plants should be left in place until there 

 is danger of the ground being closed by frost and should 

 then be pulled, a few of the larger leaves removed and 

 then packed into narrow trenches in sheltered and well- 

 drained localities, taking pains to pack the earth closely 

 about the roots and stems. Gradually, as necessary 

 to prevent hard freezing, they should be covered with 

 earth and with coarse litter, the aim being to keep 

 them as cold as possible without actually freezing, 

 and to prevent them starting into growth. As early 

 in the spring as possible, they should be set for seed- 

 ing, giving each plant about twice the space needed 

 for market cabbage. In setting, the plants, should 

 be more or less inclined, so that while the top of the 

 head is but little above the surface, the roots are not 

 buried in hard and cold subsoil. As they are set, the 

 heads should be scarred across the top, not deep enough 

 to injure the sprouting center, but so as to facilitate 

 its pushing its way through the head. The seedstalks 

 should not be cut until they begin to shed the seed, 

 which turns black and seems ripe before it is fully mature. 

 The entire plant should be cut and stored until quite 

 dry, when the seed can be easily threshed, cleaned and 

 spread not over ^ inch deep in full sunlight for a few 

 days and then stored. 



Commercial seed-growing. Although one occasion- 



711. Cultivated cabbage in seed. 



CACALIOPSIS 



ally sees heavily seeded plants in all parts of the United 

 States, cabbage seed rarely proves a profitable crop, 

 except in very limited areas along Long Island Sound, 

 the eastern shores of New Jersey, Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, and in the Puget Sound region, where the yield 

 commonly secured varies from 300 to 700 pounds to the 

 acre, although exceptional crops sometimes reach 1,500 

 to 2,000 pounds. The common method of growing does 

 not vary materially from that described, except that 

 very often too little care is exercised in securing stock 

 seed, and it is sowed or the plants set so late that they 

 fail to develop sufficiently to enable one to do very 

 effective rogueing out of inferior stock. In Holland, 

 seed is often raised from much better matured heads 

 than are commonly used in America and which are cut 

 from the root, but leaving more stem than for market 

 use, and planted so that the top is level with or slightly 

 below the surface. Treated in this way, they root like 

 a great cutting and form loose, well-branched plants 

 which are not so liable to injury from wind, and are 

 said to yield more seed than would be produced if the 

 entire plant was used. It is possible that this method 

 might give good results in the Puget Sound region, but 

 it would not in the East. w. W. TRACY. 



C ABO MB A (aboriginal name). Nymphasaceae. FAN- 

 WORT. Submersed aquatics of the western hemisphere, 

 used in ponds and aquaria. 



Flowers small; sepals and petals 3, persistent; sta- 

 mens 3-6; carpels 3-18, separate: submerged Ivs. finely 

 dissected, mostly opposite. Six species. 



carpliniana, Gray (C. aqudtica, DC., not Aubl. 

 C.viridifdlia,Hort.). WASHINGTON PLANT. FISH-GRASS. 

 Floating Ivs. green, oblong-linear: fls. axillary, J^in. 

 broad, white, with 2 yellow spots at base of each petal; 

 stamens 6. Ponds and slow streams, S. 111. to N. C., Fla. 

 and Texas. A.G. 15: 157. Hardy as far north as Phila. 

 if not frozen. The commonest plant for fish-globes and 

 aquaria; roots easily in earth, grows well, is dense and 

 bushy, and a good oxygenator; prefers water free from 

 lime. Prop, by cuttings set in earth in 1-2 ft. of water 

 at 55-70 F. Commonly sold for aquaria in bunches of 

 6^12 shoots 8 in. long, wrapped with lead at base; 

 without earth the bunch lasts 4-8 weeks, when it drops 

 most of its Ivs. and must be replaced. Var. rossefdlia, 

 Hort., is a form with reddish Ivs., less durable, and more 

 difficult to prop. A. G. 15:157. Var. pulcherrima, 

 Harper, has sts. reddish purple, Ivs. darker with nar- 

 rower segms. and petals bright purple. Ga. The true 

 C. aqudtica, Aubl., of Trop. Amer., with yellow fls. 

 and nearly orbicular floating Ivs., is shown in B.M. 7090. 



H. S. CONARD. 



CACALIA (ancient Greek name). Compdsitae. Peren- 

 nial herbs of wide distribution, some of which are 

 planted in the open for ornament. 



Flowers paniculate or corymbose, the florets all 

 hermaphrodite, with white, flesh-colored, or orange, 

 exclusively tubular corollas, each of the 5 lobes with a 

 midnerve: achenes glabrous: Ivs. petioled, alternate. 

 The genus is by some considered as a section of Senecio, 

 differing in never having ray-fls. Species about 40, 

 about one-fourth Asian and the remainder mostly 

 American. They need protection in the North. 



l&tea, Mill. A slender rather attractive perennial, 

 with alternate,, widely separated Ivs. half clasping the 

 St.: fls. orange-yellow, in heads about J^in. diam., 

 corymbose. St. Helena; perhaps hot a true cacalia. 



C. aiirea and C. liitea of .gardens may be Emilia. C. cocctnea, 



N. TAYLOR.f 



CACALIOPSIS (CacaUa-like). Composite. Peren- 

 nial, for garden planting. 



Heads discoid, very many-fld. of perfect yellow 

 florets; corolla rather deeply 5-cleft, the lobes lanceo- 

 late: Ivs. palmate. One species, little known in cult. 



