120 VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



heads should not be permitted to get very hard: they should 



Fig. 55. Seed cabbages pitted for winter. 

 be gathered before the stumps have been frozen, set to- 

 gether heads up in a trench and covered with about a foot of 



soil and mulching enough 

 to prevent severe freezing. 

 Cabbage seed may be 

 raised from the stumps af- 

 ter the heads are cut off, 

 and this is a very simple 

 matter, as the stumps can 

 be buried like turnips or 

 even kept in bins, provid- 

 ing they are covered with 

 earth and kept cold: but 

 such seed is not desirable, 

 as the evidence seems to 

 show that there is a ten- 

 dency to increase the length 

 of the stump at the expense 

 of the head under such 

 treatment. It is generally 

 agreed among our best seed 

 growers that cabbage seed 

 should be saved from the 

 terminal buds of the stem, 

 which are in the cabbage 



^. r. ™ r , . nl head. Providing the seed 



Fig. 56. Part of cabbage seed stalk 

 showing seed pods. (After Landreth. ) cabbage are successfully 



wintered over, they should be planted about the first of May 



