OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE. 



As a general yet very thorough response to inquiries 

 from many of my customers about cabbage raising, I 

 have aimed in this treatise to tell them all about the 

 subject. The different inquiries made from time to time 

 have given me a pretty clear idea of the many heads 

 under which information is wanted ; and it has been my 

 aim to give this with the same thoroughness of detail 

 as in my little work on Squashes. I have endeavored 

 to talk in a very practical way, drawing from a large 

 observation and experience, and receiving, in describing 

 varieties, some valuable information from Mcintosh's 

 work, " The Book of the Garden." 



THE ORIGIN OF CABBAGE. 



Botanists tell us that all of the Cabbage family, which 

 includes not only every variety of cabbage, lied, White, 

 and Savoy, but all the cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and 

 brusscls sprouts, had their origin in the wild cabbage of 

 Europe, (Brassica oleracea,') a plant with green, wavy 

 leaves, much resembling charlock, found growing wild 

 at Dover in England, and other parts of Europe. This 

 plant, says Mcintosh, is mostly confined to the sea 

 shore, and grows only on chalky or calcareous soils. 



Thus through the w r isdom of the Great Father of us 

 all, who occasionally in his great garden allows vegeta- 

 bles to sport into a higher form of life, and grants to 

 some of these sports sufficient strength of individuality 

 to enable them to perpetuate themselves, and at times to 



