CABBAGE 97 



be sown in the hotbed or in pans or boxes in the 

 kitchen window. That is a more convenient place 

 to tend them, in February weather. In about a 

 month, early in March, our young cabbages will 

 be ready for their first transplanting. By that 

 time, they will no longer need the tender hotbed 

 care, if they have not been forced or hurried in 

 their growth. They should then be straight and 

 strong and stocky. Remove them from the kitchen 

 window-boxes to a coldframe that may be merely 

 a glass-covered frame set over a warm spot in the 

 garden. Pinch the leaf ends a little, each time 

 they are moved, in order to turn the plant vigor 

 towards root growth at first. Harden the young 

 plants gradually by removing the sash of glass 

 farther and longer each day. If they are short and 

 stocky in stem and the leaves have a reddish blue 

 tinge, the plants are surely ready for the open gar- 

 den. 



Cabbage may be adapted to almost any garden 

 soil. A sandy loam hastens maturity; a rather 

 heavy sandy loam, well-drained and yet heavy 

 enough to hold its full of moisture, deep and cool 

 and thoroughly and evenly prepared, is an ideal 

 cabbage soil. Now for the setting. Place them 

 from 18 inches to 2 feet from each other in rows 

 2 to 3 feet apart. Provided it is thoroughly wa- 

 tered, almost no plant transplants so well as cab- 

 bage. Taking the plant in the left hand, make 

 the opening beneath the measuring line with the 



