CALIFORNIA CABBAGE GROWING. 223 



course, largely influences the price of the new crop. An 

 average crop of cabbage would be, perhaps, four tons to 

 the acre and the average value $20 per ton or $80 gross 

 value per acre. The cost at current rates for labor would 

 be about $30 per acre. 



The cabbage crop is grown for winter and spring gather- 

 ing. Interior southern situations produce heads ready for 

 shipping as early as February, and the shipment continues, 

 including the later coast regions in southern and central 

 California, until April or later. Thus California is able 

 to reach the markets at the East when the storage houses 

 of Eastern regions are emptied of cabbage and the sauer- 

 kraut barrels run low and to receive whatever high prices 

 may be available at that time of the year. 



Although the State is so well suited to produce all the 

 plants of the cabbage family, the common cabbage is the 

 only one which is widely grown by small growers for home 

 supplies. It is the hardiest of the group under neglect or 

 drouth, it is true, but there is not so much difference as 

 some imagine. The cauliflower has, for instance, the repu- 

 tation of being hard to grow, but there is really no diffi- 

 culty about it if proper effort is made, as will be described 

 later. 



THE CABBAGE. 



The cabbage can be grown everywhere in Caifornia by 

 selecting that season of the year which furnishes the ade- 

 quate moisture and moderate temperature which best suits 

 its nature. These requirements adapt it well to winter 

 growth generally in California, except in the frostier 

 places, and give the plant a longer season and a greater at- 

 tainment in weight in regions of rich soils open to coast 

 influences. It does not resent fogs and cold winds, and 

 thrives directly upon the coast as well as in coast valleys. 

 In the interior it reaches its best estate on bottom lands, 

 but will succeed on plains and uplands with enough mois- 

 ture by irrigation to supplement the rainfall, but without 

 irrigation it may be often disappointing even though it be 

 started early enough. 



