266 FIELD ASD GARDES PRODUCTS 



BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 



This crop is closely related to cabbage and cauliflower. Instead 

 of a single head. Brussels sprouts form a large number of small heads 

 in the axils of the leaves. As the heads begin to crowd, the leaves 

 should be broken from the stem of the plant to give them more room. 

 A few leaves should be left at the top of the stem where the new 

 heads are being formed. Brussels sprouts are more hardy than cab- 

 bage, and in mild climates may remain in the open ground all win- 

 ter, the heads being removed as desired. For winter use in cold 

 localities, take up plants that are well laden with heads and set them 

 close together in a pit, cold frame, or cellar, with a little soil around 

 the roots. The uses of Brussels sprouts are similar to those of cabbage, 

 but they are considered to be of a superior flavor. They require tne 

 same treatment as cabbage. The soil must be rich and requires con- 

 siderable moisture. The small sprouts must grow rapidly or they 

 will be tough. Sow the seed in hot-bed and transplant, or scatter 

 seed in hills and thin. The plants must have plenty of room. Rows 

 should be thirty inches apart and the plants not closer than two feet. 

 (F. B. 255; U. Idaho E. S. 10; Cornell U. E. S. 292.) 



CABBAGE. 



Cabbage is one of the most universally cultivated of the garden 

 plants. Although it is one of the coarser vegetables it finds a place 

 in the home garden as well as in the market garden and truck farm. 

 In some sections of the United States it is extensively grown as a 

 farm crop. Early cabbage is practicallv all consumed as a green 

 vegetable. The late crop, on the other Land, is handled as a fresh 

 vegetable, as a storage crop, and for the manufacture of sauerkraut. 

 It is always in demand, and under present conditions is always avail- 

 able, either as the product of a southern truck farm or a northern 

 farm, garden, or storage house. The group of cultivated plants 

 which has been derived from the wild cabbage presents a greater 

 diversity of form than that derived from any other single ancestral 

 type. 



Wild cabbage is a robust-growing broad-leaved plant enjoying 

 the low, moist areas near the seacoast of southern Europe. The most 

 closely allied form now in cultivation is the collard. The wide varia- 

 tion in the group is illustrated by the diversity of form shown in 

 collards, kale, tree cabbage, marrow kale, cauliflower, and Brussels 

 sprouts. It is almost beyond the bounds of reason to believe that all 

 these forms have been derived from a common parentage, yet such is 

 the fact. 



Seed. In no truck crop does the character of the seed count for 

 more than in cabbage. It is very essential that the crop come to 

 marketable maturity early, that the heads be uniform in size and 

 character, and that they mature so that the whole crop can be har- 

 vested at two cuttings. The small saving made bv the purchase of 

 cheap or inferior seed is usually paid for a hundred times over^in the 

 lessened value of the crop. A grower can not afford to risk his crop 

 for so small a saving. The best seed that can be obtained is none too 

 good, and anything short of this is not good business. Without 



