CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 21 



being left for convenience in handling. If preferred, the 

 crop may be gathered and hauled to a convenient, well- 

 drained field near the barn or other building to be used in 

 preparing the crop for market. The heads are placed on top 

 of the ground, in long rows, three heads in width, side by 

 side, the rows running up and down the slope of the land, 

 to provide drainage. The usual custom is to invert the 

 heads, but better protection is afforded by placing them 

 on their sides, with the outer leaves beneath. A layer of 

 cabbage one or two heads in width may be placed on top, 

 but this increases the labor of burying. The windrows 

 should be far enough apart to drive between them with 

 a wagon. 



After the crop has been placed in this manner a two- 

 horse plow is used in drawing two furrows on each side 

 of the windrows, as much soil as possible being thrown 

 over the cabbage. The burying is finished with shovels, 

 when care is taken to get 5 to 6 inches of soil over the 

 cabbage. If buried about the middle of November, the 

 soil will afford sufficient protection for at least a month, 

 when 3 or 4 inches of manure should be thrown over the 

 ridges. Additional manure may be used in the coldest 

 localities. If more convenient, the manure may be ap- 

 plied immediately after burying, but there is no necessity 

 for making such an early application. If the cabbage is 

 sound, there should be no loss from this method. If 

 handled on a large scale, the actual cost of burying, aside 

 from the use of manure, which should not be reckoned, 

 will not exceed 60 cents a thousand heads. 



The most serious objection to burying is the unpleas- 

 antness of taking out the cabbage in very cold weather. 

 Large quantities, however, may be removed on the mild- 

 est days and stored in the barn or the cellar to meet the 

 daily demand. 



362. Yields and returns. Yields vary from a few tons 

 to 25 tons an acre ; even larger yields have been secured 



