354 



NKW ENGLAND FARMER, 



May 23, 1833. 



of good iiiaiuire ; if it lias been previously mixed stantly kill them. To get rid of tlie aphides or 

 with leached ashes, the belter. Then harrow greatly cabbage lice, watering the plants with soap-suds 

 and early in June ; if for winter cabbage, cut holes or a solution of salt in water, (not too strong, lest 

 throngli the turf, with a hoe, as near together as it kill the plants,) is said to be efficient, 

 the cabbages ought to grow ; fill the holes with I Use.— The culinary uses of the cabbage are too 

 fine earthand manure, and then set the plants, or well known to need description or recapitulation, 

 put in a small number of seed. I prefer the latter. If they grow near a yard where cattle are kept, 

 however,* since it saves the labor of setting and is the under leaves, when they begin to decay, may 

 jiuich more surer of success, if it happens to be a be stripped off and given them. The plants will 

 time of drought. They will need no more hoeing, not be injured, and they are excellent food for cat- 

 tlian is necessary to keep down the weeds. In tie, and will much increase the milk of cows ; but 

 this way, I have raised cabbages of the largest size j the least decayed alone should be given to cows, lest 

 in a green sward potato field, without more hoeing they give the milk a bad taste. Muchaccount ismade 

 than^was necessary for the potatoes." of cabbages in England, for feeding cattle in the 



Cabbage plants are liable to he attacked by a winter; but the difficulty of preservin"theni ren- 

 gnib or black worm, in the night, which eats off! ders them less valuable for that purpose with us. 



the stalks just above the ground, and buries itself 

 in the ground as soon as the sun rises. Dr Deane 

 observed, that a little circle of lime or rock-weed 

 round the plant, will preserve it, and recommends 

 digging for the worm near the pla(-e which shows 

 the marks of its ravages, and destroying it. Scald- 

 ing the hills with boiling water aud then inclOsing 

 them with boards, hark, or shingles, would be an 

 eflectnal but troublesome mode of guarding against 

 worms. The " Economical Journal of France " 

 gives the following method, which, it states, is in- 

 fallible, to guard against not only caterpillars, but 

 all other insects' which infest cabbages or other 

 vegetables : Sow with hemp all the borders of 

 the ground where the cabbage is planted ; and, 

 although the neighborhood be infested with cater- 

 pillars, the place inclosed with hemp will he per- 

 fectly free, and not one of the vermin will approach 

 it. Watering the plants with water wlii<-li had 

 been poured boiling hot on elder leaves, or walnut 

 leaves, and suffered to stand till cool, has been le- 

 commcnded. The following mixture is also said 

 to be a preservative against all kinds of insects : — 

 Take a pound and three quarters of soap, the same 

 quantity of flour of sulphur, two pounds of puff 

 balls, and fifteen gallons of water ; when the whole 

 has been well mixed by the aid of a gentle heat, 

 sprinkle the insects with the liquor, and it will iu- 



* Cultivators do hot agree on the subject of transplant- 

 ing cabbage plants, or sowing the seeds in the spots 

 where the plants arc to grow. Dr Deane, as has appear- 

 6*1 abjve, alter haviug tried both methods, ^ave the pre- 

 ference to transpl jntiiii^. Mr Peters, vve have seen, pre- 

 fers the other mode. Mr Bordley relates an experiment 

 in which he " compared cabbages transplanted with others 

 not once moved. The unmoved grew, and were betie 

 than the moved." Mr Cobbeit says, " to have fine cab- 

 bages of any sort, they must be twice transplanted. First. 

 they sliould be taken from the seed-bed, (where Ihey 

 have been sown in beds near to each other.) and put into 

 fresh-dug, well-broken ground, at six inches apart ev 

 way. Tliis is called pricking out. By standing 1 

 about fifteen or twenty days, they get straight, and staml 

 strong, erect, and have a straight and stout stem. Out of 

 this plantation they come all of a size; the toots of all 

 in the same state, and they strike quicker into the ground 

 ■where they stand fur a crop.'* According to Rees' Cy 

 clopedia, it was the practice of the .celebrated Bakew"ll 

 and other cultivators who followed his example, to dril 

 cabbage seed where the plants where tol-emain. Per- 

 haps there would be no necessity of 'ranspl.tnting cabba- 

 ges, in order to make the stents " straight and stout," ac- 

 cording to Mr Cobbc'tt's directions, if the plants were not 

 oriaiinally sown loo thick, or were properh' thinned at an 

 early period of their growth. An English writer says, 

 " Much injury frequently arises to young cabbace plants 

 from the seed being sown too thick ; care should there- 

 fore be taken to have them properly thirmed out, when 

 ever they come up in too thick a manner. Probably, if 

 the plants were sown in the hills in which they are in- 

 tended to grow lor a crop, ami thinned out in due season, 

 they would jroi* as straight and stout as if they had been 

 fie7eral times transplanted." 



Cabbages are also eaten by swine and horses, and 

 are thought to be excellent food for ewes that have 

 newly dropped their lambs, and for calves. 



Preserving cabbages. — Mr M'Mahon recommends 

 the following method for preserving cabbages for 

 winter and spring use: " Imtnediately previous 

 to the setting in of hard frost, take up your cabba- 

 es and Savoys, observing to do it in a dry day ; 

 turn their tops downward and let them remain so 

 for a few hours, to drain off any water that may 

 be lodged between their leaves ; then make choice 

 of a ridge of dry earth, in a well-sheltered, warm 

 exposure, and plant them down to their beads 

 therein, close to one another, having previously 

 taken off some of their loose, hanging leaves, tm- 

 mediately erect over them a low, temporary shed, 

 of any kind that will keep thorn perfectly free from 

 wet, which is to be open at both ends, to admit a 

 current of air, in mild dry weather. These ends 

 are to be closed with straw when the weather is 

 very severe. In this situation, your cabbages will 

 keep in a high state of preservation till spring ; f^r 

 being kept jx-rfectly 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 horns 

 previous to their being cooked, which will dissolve 

 the frost and extract any disagreeable taste occa- 

 sioned thereby." 



The ])rincipal gardener in the Shaker esttiblish- 

 ment, in New Libanon, Columbia cottnty, N. Y. 

 directs not to pull up cabbages in autumn, till there 

 is danger of their freezing too fast in the ground 

 to be got np. If there happens an early snow, 

 it will not injtire them. When they are removed 

 from the garden, they should be set out again in a 

 trench dug in the bottom of a cellar. If the cellar 

 is pretty cool, it will be the better." 



The London Monthly Magazine give the follow- 

 ing method, by which cabbages may be preserved 

 on board shi[)S, &lc: "The cabbage is cut so as 

 to leave aliout two inches or more of the stem at- 

 tached to it ; after which, the pith is scooped out 

 to about the depth of an inch, care being taken not 

 to bruise the rind by this operation. The cabba- 

 ges then are susjiended by means of a cord, tied 

 round that portion of the stem next to the cabbage, 

 and fastened at regular intervals to a rope across 

 the deck. That portion of the stem from which 

 the pith is taken, being uppermost, is regidarly 

 filled with water." 



To save cabbage seed. — "The raising of the seed 

 of the different sorts of cabbage," Neill observes, 

 affords employment to many persons in various 

 parts of England. It is well known, that no plants 

 are more liable to be spoiled by cross breeds than 



the cabbage tribe, unless the plants of any partic- 

 ular variety, when in flower, be kept at a verj 

 considerable rlistance froiri any other ; also it) flow- 

 er, bees are extremely apt to carry the pollen of 

 the one to the other, and produce confitsion in the 

 progeny. Market gardeners and many piivate iu- 

 diviikials raise seed for their own use. Some of 

 the bamlsouiest cabbages of the diflennt sorts are 

 dug up in autumn, and sunk in the grotmd to the 

 head ; early next summer a flower stem appears^ 

 which is followed by abundance of seed. A few 

 the soundest aud healthiest cabbage-stalks, furnish- 

 ed with sprouts, answer the same end. When tha 

 seed has been well ripened and dried, it will keep 

 for six or eight years. It is mentioned by Kastien, 

 that the seed-growers of Aubervillcrs have learned 

 by experience, that seed gathered from the middls 

 flower-stem produces ]ilants, which will he fit foi 

 use a fortnight earlier than those from the seed ol 

 the lateral flower stem ; this may deserve the at- 

 tention of the watchful gardener, and assist him in 

 regulnting his successive crops of the same kind 

 of cabbage." — Loitdon. 



Field culture. — The variety cultiv.ited in th« 

 fiehls for cattle is almost exclusively the larga 

 Scotch, or field cabbage. The land is ])repared 

 the same way as for other hoed crops. " The pre- 

 paration given to the plants," says Lotidon, " con- 

 sists in pinching. off the extremity of the tap-rooti 

 and any tubercles which appear on the root 01 

 stem, and in immersing the root and stem in 

 ptiddle or mixture of earth and water, to protect th« 

 fibres and ])ores of the roots and stem from drought 

 'l"be ])lants may then he insetted by the dibber, 

 tiiking care not to plant too deep, and to press th« 

 earth firmly to the lower extremity of the root. 

 If this last |)oint is not attended to, the plants will 

 either die, or, if kept alive by the moisture of the 

 soil or rain, their progress will be very slow. When 

 the distance between the ridglets (or rows) ii 

 tvventyseven inches, the plants are set about two 

 feet asunder in the rows, and the quantity required 

 for an acre is about six thousand plants." The 

 after-cidture, preservation, uses, &,c, have been 

 sufficiently detailed in the preceding columns, un- 

 der this head. 



NOTICES OF THE SEASON. 



Totlio Kiiitor oftheN. E. Farmer,— 



I have observed in your paper, accounts of th« 

 twigs of. fruit trees being killed in the Eastern 

 States. My residence is some six or seven miles 

 south of 42" north latittide — have examined tb« 

 fruit trees very carefully, and find no suclrappear- 

 ance.s. The twigs are all budding out as usual. 



The winter with us has been very tedious, sever* 

 and changeable. The first snow fell early in No- 

 vember, before the grotind was at all frozen ; it 

 continued snowing and settling till the greatest 

 average was about four feet deep. Several people 

 kept accounts of the depth of the snow, and eaj 

 that if it had not settled at the bottom, by the 

 warmth of the ground, it would have been twelve 

 or fourteen feet deep. Several severe spells were 

 followed by warm rains. The Delaware river 

 with us, was frozen over strong enough for team* 

 to cross three several times, and as often broke up 

 in high freshets, with great damage on the bank*, 

 in places. We had one dry hail-storm of about 

 nine inches deep, followed with rain ; and it WM 

 then frozen so as to bear a horse, which caused 

 great destruction to the poor deer, by wolves an4 

 (Jogs. The ground began to appear in the lattePl 



