CABBAGES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 59 



dred bushels of carrots, and thirty-five tons of ruta baga 

 turnips, would give a crop of forty tons of the largest 

 variety of drumhead cabbage. If we now consider the 

 comparative merits of these crops for nutriment, we 

 find that the cabbage excels them all in this department 

 also. The potato abounds in starch, the mangold and 

 carrot are largely composed of water, while the cabbage 

 abounds in rich, nitrogenous food, ranking in nutriment 

 almost side by side with the flesh of animals. 



When cabbage is kept for stock feed later than the 

 first severe frost, if the quantity is large there is con- 

 siderable waste even with the best of care. The loose 

 leaves should be fed first, and the heads kept on the 

 stump in a cool place, not more than two or three deep, 

 at as near the freezing point as possible. If it has been 

 necessary to cut the heads from the stumps, they may be 

 piled, after the weather has set in decidedly cold, con- 

 veniently near the barn, and kept covered with a foot of 

 straw or old litter. As long as a cabbage is kept frozen 

 there is no waste to it ; but if it be allowed to freeze 

 and thaw two or three times, it will soon rot with an 

 awful stench. On the other hand, if it is kept in too 

 warm and dry a place, the outer leaves will dry, turning 

 yellow, and the whole head lose in weight, — if it be not 

 very hard, shriveling, and if hard, shrinking. If they 

 are kept in too warm and wet a place, the heads will de- 

 cay fast, in a black, soft rot. The best way to preserve 

 cabbages for stock into the winter is to place them in 

 trenches a few inches below the surface, and there cover 

 with from a foot to two feet of coarse hay or straw, the 

 depth depending on the coldness of the locality. When 

 the ground has been frozen too hard to open with a 

 plough or spade, I have kept them until Spring by piling 



