CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 273 



if necessary. A team, a driver and two droppers can 

 plant three to four acres in a day of 10 hours. 



The plants may also be set by the use of dibbers and 

 trowels. Some growers open furrows with a narrow 

 shovel plow. When the furrow method is used, the 

 plants should be set promptly, before the fresh soil be- 

 comes dry. 



357. Intercropping. When cabbage is grown on a 

 large scale, intercropping is seldom practiced. Market 

 gardeners, however, with a limited land area often find 

 companion cropping very desirable. (See Chapter 

 XXIII.) 



358. Cultivation. Tillage should begin as soon as the 

 plants are sufficiently erect after setting and be repeated 

 at frequent intervals. It should be continued as late as 

 possible, crowding between the rows, even if some 

 leaves are broken from the plants. There will be few 

 broken, however, if the cultivating is done between 9.00 

 A. M. and 4.00 P. M., when the leaves are limp and bend 

 readily. 



359. Harvesting. When the demand is great and 

 prices high, it requires patience to wait until the early 

 crop is fully ready to market. The fact is that a large 

 percentage of early cabbage is cut before the heads be- 

 come sufficiently solid to hold up well. The result is the 

 market is crowded with inferior cabbage, which causes 

 dissatisfaction among dealers as well as among con- 

 sumers. The bulk of the southern crop is packed and 

 sold in crates or barrels, with insufficient regard to the 

 weights of the filled packages. A nearly matured head 

 will occupy about as much space as it would a few days 

 later when hard and solid, but would weigh much less. 

 Sales are always restricted when the heads are soft and 

 loose. . It is doubtful whether cabbage should ever be 

 cut until solid, except late in the fall, when there is dan- 

 ger of severe weather that would entail loss. If sold by 



