974 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x. 



crop in two directions, and a good tillage may be made over nearly 

 the whole of the ground, only that immediately round the plant 

 being missed, and this can be stirred and kept clean by the hand- 

 hoe. It is doubtless an advantage to work the land previously to 

 planting it, but in autumn and very early spring this is not always 

 convenient, so it is usual under such circumstances to place the 

 plants between the furrows, which is useful in that the furrows 

 afford some protection against severe weather. The land should be 

 highh r manured for cabbages. It is, indeed, practically impossible 

 to over-manure it, as cabbages do not suffer from mildew as corn crops 

 do when over-dressed. They are greatly benefited by nitrogenous 

 manures, and nitrate of soda is rarely applied with greater advantage 

 than to cabbages. Common salt is also a cheap and effective manure, 

 which may be sown in conjunction with the nitrate. Soot is likewise 

 valuable as a manure, besides serving to check the attacks of insects 

 and birds. 



Cabbages may be fed with impunity at any age, which, as has already 

 been mentioned, is not the case with swedes. All kinds of stock keep 

 healthy and improve in condition when fed on them. They are 

 superior to turnips of an} r kind for milking cows as the.y impart no 

 unpleasant taste or odour to the milk or butter, unless the leaves are 

 in a decaying condition ; if in this state the outside leaves should be 

 stripped off before the cabbages are given to cows. The}' are the 

 safest of all foods given to farm stock. If, however, they should be 

 infested (from August to October) with the aphis, or green fly, they 

 are dangerous for young sheep as they cause scour. In such cases it 

 is advisable, provided the hearts are solid, to strip away the outer 

 leaves before feeding. 



THOUSAND-HEADED KALE (fig. 450) is a good representative of the 

 sprouting cabbage, and is the variety chiefly grown on the farm. But 

 there are many other kinds more or less similar to it which are grown 

 in market gardens, such as the Cottager's Kale, the Curly Kale, and 

 Brussels Sprouts. It is generally supposed that the Thousand-headed 

 kale is a crop of very recent introduction, but as it appears in seeds- 

 men's catalogues at the beginning of the century this is not the case. 

 It was, however, very little grown until 1876, when Mr. Robert 

 Riissell strongly advocated its claims to a permanent position in the 

 list, of farm crops. Mr. Russell had for some years been improving 

 his stock and had established a very good " selection," and even now 

 Russell's stock is considered to be the best. 



The cultivation for thousand-headed kale is very similar to that for 

 other kinds of cabbages, and the crop may be grown so as to furnish 

 food for stock at all seasons. A mistake is often made in not allowing 

 it to sprout sufficiently before it is stocked ; the mass of green food 

 which the plant provides is not attained until the sprouts form, and 

 this is not until the plant has made its full stem-growth and thrown 

 out lateral branches. We have frequently seen a crop spoiled by too 

 early stocking, and the farmer has acquired a bad opinion of its 



