52 



CAB 



CAB 



CABBAGE, Brassica, an es- 

 culent plant in high estimation, 

 which, when well boiled, is a 

 very wholesome food. Many 

 sorts of cabbages are cultivated. 

 The common white and red cab- 

 bages, the savoy, the cauliflower, 

 and the low dutch cabbages are 

 common in this country. The 

 savoy, for keeping in the winter, 

 seems to be equal to any. Be- 

 sides these, other sorts are culti- 

 vated in Europe, as the borecole, 

 the broccoli, the battersea, &c. 



Cabbages require a rich soil, 

 rather moist than dry. A clay 

 soil well mixed with other matters, 

 is very proper for them. They 

 are said to grow well in drained 

 swamps without manure. Hog 

 dung well rotted, door dung and 

 ashes, are suitable manures for 

 them. — Each plant should have at 

 least four feet of ground : In other 

 words, the plants should be two 

 feet asunder. In gardens and 

 small yards this is a good distance. 

 But in fields, where they are to be 

 cultivated by the plough, a greater 

 distance is necessary. The rows 

 may be three feet apart, and the 

 plants two feet in the rows ; or 

 perhaps a foot and a half may an- 

 swer, unless it be for the largest 

 sort. 



Some think cabbages will not 

 answer more than one year on 

 the same spot. But this is an er- 

 roneous opinion. I have raised 

 them for eighteen years in the 

 same part of my garden, being an 

 unfavourable soil, dry and grav- 

 elly : And the crops are better 

 than they were at first, though 

 the ground has been but httle 

 manured. 



Some drop the seeds where the 

 cabbages are to grow. By this 

 they escape being stinted by trans- 

 planting. For winter cabbages, 

 the latter part of May is early 

 enough to put the seed into the 

 ground, whether the plants are to 

 be removed or not. 1 have tried 

 both ways, and on the whole, I 

 prefer transplanting. They are 

 otherwise apt to be too tall, and 

 to have crooked stems. Cover- 

 ing of plants with leaves is not a 

 good practice. They will be 

 much heated through some sorts 

 of leaves, the free circulation of 

 air about them will be prevented, 

 and their perspiration partly ob- 

 structed. If a hot sun cause them 

 to droop, a shingle stuck into the 

 ground will be suflicient shelter, if 

 it be on the south side of the 

 plants. I commonly allow each 

 plant two shingles, one on the 

 southeast side, and one on the 

 southwest, meeting at the south 

 corner. 



The principal things which pre- 

 vent the growth of cabbages, are, 

 the fumble-foot, so called, grubs, 

 maggots and lice. Manuring with 

 ashes and lime tends to prevent 

 the first, as the roots become 

 mis-shapen by means of being 

 wounded by insects, to which the 

 hot qualities of ashes and lime are 

 an antidote. 



The grub, or black worm, 

 travels in the night from plant to 

 plant, eats off the stalks just above 

 the ground, and buries itself in the 

 soil when the sun is up. To 

 guard against this worm, a little 

 circle of lime, or rockweed round 

 the plant is of service. But the 



