38 CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 



VARIETIES OF CABBAGE. 



If a piece of land is planted with seed grown from 

 two heads of cabbage the product will bear a striking 

 resemblance to the two parent cabbages, with a third 

 variety which will combine the characteristics of these 

 two, yet the resemblance will be somewhat modified at 

 times by a little more manure, a little higher culture, a 

 little better location, and the addition of an individual- 

 ity that particular vegetables occasionally take upon 

 themselves which we signify by the word " sport." The 

 " sports" when they occur are fixed and perpetuated 

 with remarkable readiness in the cabbage family, as is 

 proved by the great number of varieties in cultivation, 

 the numerous progeny of one ancestor. The catalogues 

 of the English and French seedsmen contain long lists 

 of varieties, many of which (and this is especially true 

 of the early kinds) are either the same variety under a 

 different name or are different "strains" of the same 

 variety produced by the careful selections of prominent 

 market gardeners through a series of years. 



Four different seasons I have experimented with for- 

 eign and American varieties of cabbage to learn the 

 characteristics of the different kinds, their comparative 

 earliness, size, shape, and hardness of head, length of 

 stump, and such other facts as would prove of value to 

 market gardeners. There is one fact that every care- 

 ful experimenter soon learns, that one season will not 

 teach all that can be known relative to a variety, and 

 that a number of specimens of each kind must be raised 

 to enable one to make a fair comparison. It is amusing 

 to read the dicta which appear in the agricul ural press 

 from those who have made but a single experiment with 

 some vegetable ; they proclaim more after a single trial 



