4 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 



blend their individuality with that of other sports, we 

 have the heading cabbage in its numerous varieties, the 

 creamy cauliflower, the feathery kale, the curled savoy. 

 On my own grounds from a strain of seed that had been 

 grown isolated for years, there recently came a plant that 

 in its structure closely resembled Brussels Sprouts, grow- 

 ing about two feet in height, with a small head under each 

 leaf. The cultivated cabbage was first introduced into 

 England by the Romans, and from there nearly all the 

 kinds cultivated in this country were originally brought. 

 Those which we consider as peculiarly American varie- 

 ties, have only been made so by years of careful improve- 

 ment on the original imported sorts. The characteristics 

 of these varieties will be given farther on. 



WHAT A CABBAGE IS.. 



If we cut vertically through the middle of the head, 

 we shall find it made up of successive layers of leaves, 

 which grow smaller und smaller, almost ad infinitum. 

 Now if we take a fruit bud from an apple tree and make 

 a similar section of it, we shall find the same structure. 

 If we observe the development of the two, as Spring 

 advances, we shall find another similarity (the looser 

 the head the closer will be the resemblance), — the outer 

 leaves of each will unwrap and unfold, and a blossom 

 stem will push out from each. Hence we see that a 

 cabbage is a bud, a seed bud, as all fruit buds may be 

 termed, the production cf seed being the primary object 

 in nature, the fruit enclosing it playing but a secondary 

 part, the office of the leaves being to cover, protect, and 

 afterwards nourish the young seed shoot. The outer 

 leaves which surround the head appear to have the same 

 office as the leaves which surround the growing fruit 

 bud, and that office closes with the first year, as does 



