86 VEGETABLE GROWING. 



CABBAGE. 



The season for marketing cabbage is not long, be- 

 cause the Maine and Nova Scotia cabbage will keep 

 until March or April, while the spring crop of North 

 Georgia and South Carolina begins to reach market in 

 June. Some years the Northern crop is small ; in such 

 cases, late winter cabbage commands a high price. If 

 at the same time the potato crop is light, there will be 

 a demand for Southern cabbage. Often, the vegetable- 

 growers can anticipate such conditions, and put in a 

 large crop of cabbage. There is a large Southern 

 market that would depend on our cabbage if the sup- 

 ply were constant. 



Cabbage is an excellent crop to feed cattle. In some 

 of the dairying districts, it is raised as a second crop 

 with a view of feeding to milch cows. 



PLANT-BED. 



This is probably the easiest vegetable to grow from 

 seed that we have in market. It is not necessary to 

 have a cold frame to start the seedlings, but success is 

 more certain by using it. The bed used to raise the 

 seedlings need not have bottom heat, and need not be 

 as fertile as for most other seedlings. To produce 

 stocky plants, it is better to have the bed rather cool. 

 If one discovers that the plants are not progressing 

 rapidly enough to bring them to the size desired by 

 transplanting time, they can be stimulated to rapid 

 growth by the use of some liquid manure, or cotton- 

 seed meal. The latter must not come in contact with 

 the plants, as it is liable to cause a " damping off' 7 in 

 the seed-bed when it begins to decay. One-half to an 

 ounce of seed should give plants enough for an acre. 



