NOV.] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 579 



closed with straw when the weather is very severe. In this situation 

 your cabbages will keep in a high state of preservation till spring ; 

 for, being kept perfectly free from wet as well as from the action of 

 the sun, the frost will have little or no effect upon them. In such a 

 place the heads may be cut off as wanted, and, if frozen, soak them 

 in spring, well, or pump water for a few hours previous to their being 

 cooked, which will dissolve the frost and extract any disagreeable 

 taste occasioned thereby. 



Some plant their cabbages, after being taken up and drained as 

 above, in airy or well ventilated cellars, in earth or sand up to their 

 heads, where they will keep tolerably well ; but in close, warm, or 

 damp cellars they soon decay. 



Others make a trench in dry sandy ground, and place the cabbages 

 therein, after being well drained and dry, and most of their outside 

 loose green leaves pulled off, roots upward, the heads contiguous to, 

 but not touching each other ; they then cover them with the dryest 

 earth or sand that can be conveniently procured, and form a ridge of 

 earth over them like the roof of a house : some apply dry straw im- 

 mediately around the heads ; but this is a bad practice, as the straw 

 will soon become damp and mouldy, and will of course communicate 

 the disorder to the cabbages. 



Upon the whole, the first method is, in my opinion, the most pre- 

 ferable, as there is no way in which cabbages will keep better if pre- 

 served from wet; and, besides, they can be conveniently obtained 

 whenever they are wanted for use. 



The green and brown curled borecole being very hardy, will re- 

 quire but little protection ; they may now be taken up and planted 

 in a ridge tolerably close together, and during severe frost covered 

 lightly with straw j this will preserve them sufficiently, and during 

 winter the heads may be cut off as they are wanted for use ; the 

 stems, if taken up and planted in rows, as early in March as the 

 weather will admit, will produce abundance of the most delicious 

 sprouts. 



In the southern States, and even in warm soils and exposures in 

 the middle States, borecole will stand the winter in open beds with- 

 out any covering whatever. 



CAULIFLOWERS AND BROCCOLI. 



Your late cauliflowers and broccoli will now be producing their 

 heads ; therefore it will be necessary to break down some of the 

 largest leaves over the flowers to preserve them from the effects of 

 sun, rain, and frost. 



Such plants of either sort as are not likely to flower before the 

 commencement of severe frost should be taken up and planted as 

 recommended in the first instance for cabbages, where, if well pro- 

 tected from wet and frost, they will continue to produce fine flowers 

 all winter. 



Or, they may be planted in a dry, warm cellar, in the same man- 

 ner as directed for cabbages, where they will also flower in winter : 



