CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 57 



is usually sown for this purpose, which may bo some- 

 times purchased at a discount, owing to some defect in 

 quality or purity that would render it worthless for 

 planting for a crop of heading cabbage. 



The young plants arc cut off about even with the 

 ground, when four or five inches high, washed, and car- 

 ried to market in barrels or bushel boxes. The price 

 varies with the state of the market, from 12 cents to $3 

 a barrel, the average price in Boston market being about 

 a dollar. With the return of Spring most families have 

 some cabbage stumps remaining in the cellar ; these can 

 be planted about a foot apart in some handy spot along 

 the edge of the garden, where they will not interfere 

 with the general crop, setting them under ground from 

 a quarter to a half their length, depending on the length 

 of the stumps. They will soon be covered witli green 

 shoots, which should be used as greens before the blos- 

 som buds show themselves, as they then become too 

 strong to be agreeable. If the spot is rich and has been 

 well dug, the rapidity of growth is surprising ; and if 

 the shoots are frequently gathered, many nice messes of 

 greens can be grown from a few stumps. Farmers in 

 Northern Vermont tell me, that if they break off each 

 seed shoot as soon as it shows itself, close home to the 

 stump, nice little heads will push out on almost every 

 stump. In England, where the Winter climate is much 

 milder than that of New England, it is the practice to 

 raise a second crop of heads in this way. I have seen 

 an acre from which a crop of drumhead cabbage had 

 been cut off early in the season, every stump on which 

 had from three to six hard heads, varying from the size 

 of a hen's egg to that of a goose c^ ; but to get this 

 second growth of heads as much of the stump and leaves 

 should be left as possible, when cutting out the original 



