FIELD CULTURE OF CABBAGE 185 



space enough to grow thriftily and should be transplanted to the 

 field when conditions are right for planting out in the locality. 



Plants started in August and September may be planted in the 

 field as soon as they are strong enough, when an early winter crop 

 is expected, for they will be headed up well from January to March. 

 Where this is not favored by the local climate, it is still advisable to 

 have early grown plants, and in garden practice they can be several 

 times transplanted and thus kept small and stocky for planting out 

 when soil and weather are right for it. Where the early winter is 

 apt to have quite severe frosts, plants started in the fall in the open 

 air can be transplanted to cold frames until this danger is past. 



For late winter and spring planting, plants may be started later, 

 say in January, but then in some places the hot-bed, or other form 

 of gentle bottom heat described in the chapter on propagation, is 

 desirable. Care must, however, always be taken not to use too high' 

 heat with cabbage plants, and for usual California conditions a seed- 

 bed, with the soil made light enough for good drainage, and with 

 protection from cold winds as afforded by a fence or buildings, is 

 usually coddling enough for cabbages. If, however, the plants are 

 grown with heat they should be first transplanted to a cold frame, or 

 a protected bed, for hardening before they are taken to open ground. 



Preparation of Cabbage Ground. Aside from generous ma- 

 nuring ; for it is hard to make ground too rich for the cabbage, a good, 

 deep working of the soil will show itself in the crop. For fall plant- 

 ing it is not desirable to give the surface as fine a polish as is neces- 

 sary for seed sowing, because it will be all the more liable to puddle 

 and crust with the rains. If the plant is well firmed in fine soil, it 

 will take hold well and the interspaces will be more receptive if left 

 a little open. Subsequent cultivation will fine it sufficiently. 



In special fertilizing for cabbage in addition to free use of farm 

 manure, worn soils can be enriched with 400 to 500 Ibs. of super- 

 phosphate and 200 Ibs. of kainit, harrowed in before planting, and 

 from 200 to 400 Ibs. nitrate of soda is given divided into two to three 

 applications, according to quantity allowed. If as much as 4 cwt. 

 of nitrate of soda is given to the acre, the first portion may be ap- 

 plied when it is noticed the plants are beginning to catch on, the 

 next a month after, and the last dressing three weeks later. This 

 usually produces a marked effect on the crops. 



Planting Out. Cabbages are usually grown in the field in 

 rows two and a half to three feet apart ; laid out with a marker, the 



