KITCHEN GARDEN. 175 



bages should begin. But without plants this cannot 

 be done, and these are only to be had from a hotbed 

 prepared in January or February (as for asparagus), 

 and sown with the seeds of cauliflowers, of broc- 

 coli, and of the early sorts of the head cabbage.* 

 When the plants are two or three inches high, they 

 should be removed to another hotbed of lower tem- 

 perature and larger surface, where they should re- 

 main until transferred to the open air, and to the 

 bed where they are permanently to stand. The 

 time for doing this (as already indicated) is when 

 the earth, by its spontaneous productions, discovers 

 the warmth necessary for vegetation. To do it ear- 

 lier would be to risk your plants, and not to do it 

 now would be to fail in your intention of having 

 early cabbages. The time of this last transplant- 

 ing is also that for forming seedbeds in the open 

 air for your winter supply.f As in the former case, 

 the plants, when two or three inches high, must be 

 removed to beds prepared for them, and thence, be- 

 tween the 1st and 20th of June, be transferred to 

 their permanent beds. No vegetable bears trans- 

 planting better than the cabbage. The advantages 

 resulting from it are shorter and stouter stems and 

 larger heads, which rarely burst or run to seed.J 



The act of planting should be performed care- 

 fully. Holes of sufficient depth and width should 

 be dibbled, for the smaller sorts of cabbages at the 

 distance of two feet and a half, and for the larger 

 sorts of three feet every way. In these the plants 

 should be placed up to their lower leaves,^ and the 



* M'Mahon advises sowing the seeds of the early sorts in 

 September, in the open air, transplanting them to hotbeds in 

 November, and pricking them out in the spring. 



f We have found that from the 25th to the 28th May is early 

 enough to sow winter cabbages and broccoli. If sown earlier, 

 they mature too early, and many of the heads of the cabbage 

 break open before winter, and the broccoli runs to seed and 

 waste unless there be a market at hand. J. B. 



J See Millar, Beriays, M'Mahon, &c., &c. 



$ The turnip cabbage is an exception to this rule. The 

 earth must only be brought to the bulb. 



