GROWING CABBAGE PLANTS. 225 



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grow thriftily and should be transplanted to the field when 

 conditions are right for planting out in the locality. 



Plants started in September may be planted in the field 

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

 crop is expected. 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, how- 

 ever, always be taken not to use too high heat with cab- 

 bage 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 cab- 

 bages. 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 

 manuring, 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 planting it is not desirable to give 

 the surface as fine a polish as is necessary 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 recep- 

 tive if left a little open. Subsequent cultivation will fine 

 it sufficiently. 



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 plants being distanced about 15 inches in the 

 rows. Planting is done with a dibble, and a man can plant 



