No. 8. 



Pomeranian Cabbage. 



247 



taining originally 2,500 trees, five years 

 planted, and the other 1,050 trees, four years 

 from the bud. The soil in which they are 

 planted, consists of a very fine, light sandy 

 loam, poorer than the lands at Flatbush, and 

 similar in character to those of Islip, and 

 several points farther east. The trees were 

 generally planted from 18 to 20 feet apart, 

 and, with the exception of a portion of those 

 of the larger orchard, all appeared e.xceed- 

 inffly vigorous, although they had somewhat 

 sutfered from mutilation in gathering the 

 fruit. Mr. Stoothoff was about completing 

 his harvest, having been engaged in sending 

 his fruit to the New York markets, since the 

 12th of August, between which time and the 

 3rd of ( )ctober, he sold 2,637 baskets, bring- 

 ing, in the aggregate, $2,600 18. The trees 

 from which the fruit had not been plucked, 

 at the time of our visit, were actually bend- 

 incy to the ground with excessive weight, 

 and fincr-lookincr peaches we never saw. 

 The varieties principally cultivated, were 

 the red rareripe, early and late raalacotones, 

 lemon clings, and Morris whites. 



At the Ume of planting the trees, Mr. 

 Stoothotf cuts off the tap-root, if there be 

 any, in order that the other roots may take 

 a horizontal direction near the surface of the 

 g-round, and receive the full benefit of the 

 manure, and the vivifying influences of rains 

 and dews. The first year after he plants his 

 tree?, he cuts off the trunks or stems from 

 two and a half to three feet above the ground, 

 in order to allow the future branches to start 

 low and form a bushy head. In winter he 

 prunes his trees, by cutting away all dead 

 woDd, and in summer he thins out the super- 

 fluous branches, in order to admit the sun 

 and air. In the month of June, and again in 

 September, the earth is drawn from each 

 tree, the roots carefully scraped, all borers 

 cut out with a knife, and the earth properly 

 put back in its place. 



Mr. Stoothoff, for two or three years past, 

 has been in the practice of planting aspara- 

 gus and peas in his orchards, manuring them 

 with wood ashes and stable or barn-yard 

 dung. The cultivation of garden vegetables 

 among fruit trees, however, he does not fully 

 approve. He thinks it preferable to keep 

 his orchards clear of weeds by frequently 

 scratching over the surface with a cultiva- 

 tor, and manuring each tree, within a foot 

 or two of the trunk, with six to ten fish, 

 (moss bunkers,) covering them over with 

 three or four inches of earth. To the last 

 named circumstances and the great care ob- 

 served in removing the tap-root and extract- 

 ing the borer, it is probable the success of 

 his peach culture mainly depends. 



Mr. Stoothoff has kept an e.xact account 

 of the products of his two orchards the sea- 

 son past, from which we copy the following, 

 including the amount of sales: — 



2,780 bunches of asparagus, 

 431 bushels of early peas, 

 261 " late » 



41 «• Sickel " 



2,637 baskets of peaches, 



These orchards contain about twenty -eight 

 acres. — American Agriculturist. 



Pomeranian Cabbasre. 



Last spring, says J. E. Teschemacher, in 

 a recent communication to Hovey's Horti- 

 cultural Magazine. Mr. H. Colman sent me 

 from Paris a small quantity of cabbage seed, 

 labelled: "given me as seed of a most ex- 

 traordinary cabbage. — I have not seen it." 

 This seed I distributed amongst many of my 

 friends, and sowed some myself VVhen it 

 first came up, the seedlings so much resem- 

 bled those of the Couve tronchuda sowed in 

 an adjoining patch, that I could not then tell 

 the difference. The result is as follows. 

 The cabbage is of the pine apple form, weighs 

 from six to twelve or fifteen lbs. each, is the 

 purest and sweetett vegetable of the tribe, 

 and not a single plant of all mine, or those 

 of my friends, failed forming fine, hard, solid, 

 heads. 



One plant, of which the head was broken 

 off soon after planting out, sent forth four 

 shoots, each oi^ which formed a fine solid 

 head ; the four weighed 12 1-2 pounds. Mr. 

 L. Stone, of Watertown, to whom I gave 

 some seed, exhibited this cabbage at the an- 

 nual exhibition of our Horticultural Society, 

 and he was kind enough to distribute plants 

 all around, last autumn, for the purpose of 

 being kept through the winter for seeding 

 the approaching summer, so that I hope we 

 shall have plenty of seed for next season. It 

 seems to me highly probable that it will 

 take the place of the large drumhead, as four 

 or five of these will grow in the same space 

 as is required for two of the others; add to 

 this, that the flavour is far superior, and the 

 faculty of heading well, unfailing. 



Although I have no name for it, I think 

 it very probable that it is the Pomeranian 

 Cabbage, just introduced into England or 

 Scotland, where it met with much commen- 

 dation. 



