358 Cabbages. 



stands like a bush ; yet stakes or trellis may be of use to it in many 

 places, and perhaps necessary in some. I think it does better in rich 

 .soil ; the fruit ought to be thinned, as it sets an enormous quantity. It 

 is early, although it hangs on the vines till frost, and improves with age. 

 It is among the first that are good for cooking. It can be planted four 

 or five feet apart, and the quantity per acre for wine would be enor- 

 mous. 



The largest grape I have, I think is the Empire, of which nothing is 

 said. It is very late, and good for culinary purposes. 



[We have never cultivated the Missouri Mammoth Blackberry, but 

 have been told by good authority that the true sort is an excellent berry. 

 It is said that the disseminators of it baving found it take better than 

 they anticipated, and having but a limited stock, and wishing to take 

 advantage of the demand, went into the woods and dug up anything 

 in the shape of a blackbeny plant and sold it for this variety. Our 

 correspondent may have got the true variety, or he may have got, as he 

 suggests, a seedling of good quality. — Ed.] 



CABBAGES. 



By Alexander Hyde, Lee, Mass. 



The cabbage {Brassica oleracea) is one of the oldest and most valu- 

 able of our culinary vegetables. It was a favorite with the old Romans, 

 and our Saxon ancestors were so fond of it that they called the month 

 of February "■ Sprout Kale." The original cabbage plant grows wild 

 on the sea-shores of England and other parts of Europe, and, being 

 inclined to sport, has become the parent of so many varieties, differing 

 so greatly in their appearance and habits, that to many it seems almost 

 impossible to trace them to the same origin. Besides the various sorts 

 of white and red cabbages, which form solid heads, we have the cole- 

 worts and kale, which grow with loose leaves, various kinds of cauli- 

 flower and broccoli that form their flower-buds into a head, and the 

 turnip-rooted cabbage {Kohl 7-abi)^ in which the stem swells at the 

 base like a turnip, in one variety above ground, and in another under 

 the surface of the soil. Some varieties are ready for eating in June, and 

 others mature late in the fall, and keep, with proper care, till early 

 cabbages come again ; so that it is one of the recommendations of this 

 vegetable that it is in eating order during the whole year. 



