GARDEN AND TRUCK FARMING. 297 



mason. Often the grower will succeed best with these summer 

 varieties for winter cabbage, by sowing the seed late in May or 

 the first of June. For the main crop of winter cabbage, the 

 Premium Flat Dutch succeeds better in most localities than any 

 other, and on very rich land Marble Head Mammoth will grow 

 the largest heads. The Savoy cabbages are wrinkled and grow 

 a rather loose head. They have a more delicate flavor than 

 other varieties, and are recommended for the South, where 

 others do not head well. Red Dutch is used exclusively for 

 pickling. It is very hardy, and forms a solid head, which keeps 

 well. It is a late variety, and requires a rich soil for its per- 

 fect development. 



The earliest cabbages are usually started under glass or in 

 boxes in the house, but as the cabbage is very hardy, I succeed 

 in growing them nearly as early and with much less trouble in 

 the open ground. I mix a little Wakefield cabbage seed with 

 the early radish seed, which I sow as early as the land can be 

 worked, and as we begin to use the radishes, we pull first those 

 near the cabbage plants, and by the time the radishes are too old 

 for use we have a row of fine, stocky cabbages. Cabbage plants 

 grown in the hot-bed are often spindled, and have long stems. 

 When this is the case, they should always, in transplanting, be 

 set in the ground up to the first leaf, no matter how long the stem 

 may be. The gardener can often make the growing of cabbage 

 plants very profitable. The earliest must be grown under glass, 

 but if some are sown in the open ground in a warm, sheltered 

 location as soon as the ground can be worked, there will often 

 be sale for them. For winter cabbage make two sowings in the 

 open ground, about the first and the middle of M;i v. Never sow 

 them near where you are growing turnip seed, as the garden 

 flea breeds on the turnips, and when the seed is cut they will 

 destroy the cabbages, even after they have attained a large 

 growth. Very often the garden flea is as destructive to young 

 cabbage plants as the striped bug is to melons, and the utmost 

 vigilance will be required to save them. As soon as the plants 

 are up so as to be seen in the row, they should be dusted with 

 air-slaked lime, and this should be repeated every few days till 



