CABBAGE 



121 



is, as a rule, made in 4 ft. wide beds 

 a width found to be convenient 

 for weeding and hoeing amongst 

 the plants. When sufficiently strong 

 to be transplanted, they are planted 

 on ground cleared of Onions or 

 Potatoes, and a second batch is 

 planted on land cleared of Celery, 

 French Beans, or Vegetable Mar- 

 rows. Every empty space, under 

 fruit trees or elsewhere, is planted 

 with Cabbages. In planting, the 

 ground is lined off into rows, 30 in. 

 apart, and in these the plants are 

 put 15 in. asunder. Between every 

 two rows first planted another is 

 then put in with less care, thus 

 making the plants stand 15 in. apart 

 each way. Early in spring the alter- 

 nate lines of plants, and also every 

 other plant in the lines or rows left, 

 are lifted and sold as Coleworts. 

 This allows the permanent crop 

 plenty of room to come to maturity. 

 With a view to subsequent planta- 

 tions, which are made all through 

 the winter wherever ground is 

 vacant, the young plants in seed- 

 beds are removed and pricked out 

 into others a little farther apart, 

 in order to keep them in good 

 condition for planting out as long as 

 possible. In this way, indeed, many 

 of the plants are kept till spring, 

 when they are transplanted to suc- 

 ceed those placed out in autumn. 

 They will thus come in before the 

 produce of the spring sowings, made 

 late in February or early in March, 

 to furnish Cabbages from June to 

 August. The plants from this sow- 



ing are put out in rows 2 or 2j ft. 

 apart, and in the intervening spaces 

 are put lines of Lettuces, a plant of 

 which is also set between every 

 Cabbage in the row In May men 

 may be often noticed busily engaged 

 in tying up early Cabbages in the 

 market gardens at Fulham and else- 

 where. The operation is simple- 

 just, in fact, that adopted in the 

 case of Cos Lettuces. The succulent 

 outer leaves are folded carefully 

 around the heart or centre of the 

 plant, and the whole is bound firmly 

 with a withy or a piece of bast. 

 There are several good reasons for 

 this practice. The centre being 

 protected from the weather, the 

 Cabbages heart sooner than they 

 otherwise would do, and they are 

 more easily handled in gathering 

 and packing for market. Early 

 Cabbages, the leaves of which are 

 so brittle, would lose half their value 

 if some precaution of this kind were 

 not taken to keep them from being 

 broken by loading and unloading 

 them. 



Red Cabbages are sown in March, 

 but the produce of the July sowing 

 is generally considered better than 

 that of spring. The plants are put 

 out in rows from 3^ to 4 ft. apart, 

 and the plants stand about 3 ft. 

 asunder in the rows. As this crop 

 stands until the heads are large and 

 solid, a piece of rich land is de- 

 voted to it, and intercropped with 

 Potatoes, ordinary Cabbages, Let- 

 tuces, French Beans, or other vege- 

 tables of that kind. 



The different sections of Cabbages differ perceptibly from one 

 another in the size of the seed, the Borecoles and Kohl-Rabi pro- 

 ducing the largest seed ; next to these, the ordinary Round-headed 

 varieties and the Turnip-rooted Cabbage or Swedish Turnip ; and, 

 lastly, the Cauliflowers and Broccolis, which have the smallest seed 

 of all. 



USES. The leaves of the common headed varieties and of the 



