PART SECOND. 



PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 



CABBAGE PLANTS. One of the most diffi- 

 cult and vexing parts of all garden operations 

 is to secure a good supply of healthy, growing 

 plants. Indeed, after this feat is accomplished, 

 if the soil is sufficiently enriched, in the right 

 mechanical condition, and the proper cultiva- 

 tion given, there is little left for a man to do 

 but to harvest a bountiful crop. 



Nine tenths of the failures in this branch of 

 business are directly. assignable to some mis- 

 management in the first stages of the plants' 

 growth, and as in all animal nature, a disease or 

 injury contracted in infancy, though perhaps 

 for a long time latent, may finally develop into 

 complete ruin. The general ignorance which 

 exists throughout this country on the subject 

 of insects and diseases from which the cabbage 

 .is liable to destruction, may be inferred when 



