THE CABBAGE. 171 



the order of their importance, each, for the sake of pre- 

 cision, being accompanied by its botanical name. 



Cahhage Tribe, 



The Brassica oleracea, Linn., is a plant indigenous 

 to the rocky shores of Great Britain, but no one, seeing 

 it waving its foliage in its native habitat, could possibly 

 anticipate that it would ever appear in our gardens, dis- 

 guised as the ponderous drumhead or sugar-loaf cabbage, 

 or on our tables as the delicate cauliflower and broccoli. 

 The cultivated varieties are numerous; but the follow- 

 ing are the most important. 



Common White Cabbage; the leaves gathering into 

 a close head. The economical uses of this vegetable 

 are well known. Its principal subvarieties are the 

 following : 



Early Dwarf or Battersea. Scotch Gray. 



Early York. Vanack, « 



Large York. Couve Troncliuda. 



Large Sugar-loaf. Pomeranian. 



Drumhead. 



The first two are well adapted for early crops; the 

 others for use in the autumn and winter. There is a 

 dwarfish variety of the Tronchuda, sometimes called 

 the Portugal Cabbage, the leaf-stalk and midribs of the 

 leaves of which are succulent, crisp, and white, and 

 equal in flavor to sea-kale. 



The Cabbage is propagated from seed, which may be 

 sown in beds faur feet wide,, and covered over with a 

 thin layer of earth. The proper seasons in England 

 for this operation are the middle of August, the be- 

 ginning of March, and midsummer. By observing these 

 times, and employing different sorts, the succession 



