Cabbages. 359 



When we consider the highly nutritious propeiiies of the cabbage, 

 we do not wonder that it has ever been esteemed by the laboring classes 

 in all countries. Although the leaves average ninety-two per cent, and 

 the stalks eighty-four per cent, of water, still there is probably no vege- 

 table we raise (mushrooms excepted), in which nitrogen more abounds. 

 Johnston estimates the flesh-forming constituents of dried cauliflower 

 at sixty-four per cent. No wonder, then, that the Irishman, who is 

 maki-ng large drafts on his muscles, loves a cabbage for his dinner ; and 

 in no way can he purchase for the .same money so much nourishing 

 food. 



The impression is quite prevalent that cabbage is coarse food, adapted 

 only to cattle and the laboring classes. While it is true that cattle thrive 

 greatly upon cabbage, and laborers, by an instinct as reliable in its 

 operations as the deductions of science, commonly esteem this vegetable 

 above all others, yet it does not follow that the student should despise 

 cabbage. It furnishes brain food, and that intellectual giant, Dr. John- 

 son, used to say, " Of all the flowers in the garden I like the cauli- 

 flower." Besides the nitrogen in which it abounds, there are found in 

 its inorganic constituents the various alkalies, sulphuric and phosphoric 

 acids, and chlorine. Because cattle love corn, squashes, and apples, it 

 does not follow that men should reject these blessings. 



" We cannot make something from nothing" is a maxim which all 

 gardeners and farmers early learn, and it is especially applicable to the 

 cultivation of cabbages. " Why do not my cabbages head well?" is a 

 question often asked us ; and in nine cases out of ten the answer is 

 obvious. The soil is too poor. Market gardeners, who esteem cab- 

 bages one of their most certain as well as most profitable crops, manure 

 very highly to obtain the large heads which we find in the markets. 

 Mr. Henderson, of Bergen, N. J., one of the most successful cultivators, 

 recommends for cabbages seventy-five tons of barn-yard manure. A 

 ton of barn-yard manure is rather an indefinite quantity, as the weight 

 varies so greatly ; but whether a ton is more or less, there is no danger 

 of manuring cabbages too highly. The soil best adapted to them is a 

 clay loam. They sliould not be grown on the same ground for a suc- 

 cession of years, even when annually manured, as the insect which 

 produces " club root" is apt to attack them. Lime and salt are among 

 the specific manures for cabbages ; but these are only adjuncts, and can- 

 not be relied upon as a substitute for barn-yard fertilizers. 



Among the varieties of cabbage, cauliflower takes the lead, as being 

 at the same time most delicate and most nutritious. In warm, dry 

 weather, cauliflowers are apt to send up branching shoots, which look 



