132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



for these can be sown on an area covered by a hotbed or cold-frame 

 sash. The extra early crop is either started in the open in September 

 and transplanted to a cold frame as the frosty nights come on, to be 

 protected through the winter by sash and shutters and transplanted 

 to the open as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, or the 

 plants may be started in a hotbed from the first of February to the 

 middle of March, depending upon the locality, and hardened off, as 

 the days grow milder, by lifting the sash. 



Plants grown and hardened off in this way are nearly as hardy as 

 cold-frame wintered plants. They can with safety be transplanted to 

 the open as soon as the condition of the soil will warrant. As a rule, 

 hotbed-grown plants do not head as quickly as ^\^ntcred plants; on 

 the other hand, there will be fewer plants that shoot to seed. The 

 grower will, therefore, use the plan best adapted to his cropping system, 

 and may employ both plans in order that the peculiarities of the 

 seasons may be most advantageously met. In some seasons the win- 

 tered plants give best results, while other seasons seem to favor the 

 hotbed product. The use of both plans will safeguard the crop to the 

 greatest degree. 



Setting Plants in the Field. — The cabbage plants are usually set 

 in the field in rows about 30 inches apart and about 18 inches apart 

 in the row. For the extra early crop the Jersey Wakefield is expen- 

 sively employed. A later variety may be sown in the hotbed at the 

 same time and the plants given similar treatment, but since the late 

 sort requires a longer season, it will form a succession with the Wake- 

 field, enabling the gardener to maintain a continuous supply up to 

 the time when he can utilize the crop grown from seed sown in April 

 or May in the open, the plants of which are usually transplanted, in 

 the latitude of New York, to open field from June 20 to July 1. This 

 crop provides a fall supply of cabbage for the market, and when treated 

 as a field crop is used by the sauerkraut factories and the storage houses, 

 and is marketed in carload lots in the southern cities and towTis, where 

 extensive manufacturing enterprises are conducted. 



Cultivation. — Among market gardeners it is a common expression 

 that "cabbage should be hoed every daJ^" Perhaps no other crop 

 responds more quickly to good cultivation and an ample food supply. 

 This is undoubtedly the explanation of the above-quoted expression. 

 In cultivating cabbage the work should be frequent and thorough, 

 but the cultivation should not be deep. The aim should be to destroy 

 all competing weeds, and maintain a loose, friable laj-cr of soil about 

 2 inches deep over the surface of the area devoted to cabbage. 



Harvesting. — The early cabbage which is growTi by the market 

 gardener is cut, carefully trimmed, and marketed from his wagon or 

 stall. The later crop, which is harvested in the fall, may not be 

 marketed immediately, but may be stored temporarily in a cool, well- 

 ventilated building, in which case the heads are usually cut from the 

 stalks, carefully trimmed and stored in small bins or on shelves. If 



