376 THE CABBAGE CEO P. 



Or the same practice may be followed advantageously with 

 an early and a late variety of the " drumheads" the early 

 plants being matured and carried off in time to give the 

 less advanced growth of the others the benefit of more 

 space and exposure to the atmosphere. 



In order to insure uniformity in the lines of plants, both 

 for the sake of appearance, and of more securely using the 

 horse-hoe during the growth of the crop, it is usual to 

 mark out the given distances, by running a light furrow 

 along the field with a marker attached to the plough, or 

 a marking frame alone may be used, by which arrange- 

 ment parallel lines can be drawn over the extent of the 

 field. The same process should then be carried out 

 across the previous lines, and the whole surface will 

 then be divided into squares of the size previously deter- 

 mined upon, and the plants always kept in strictly straight 

 and parallel lines. This arrangement requires but little 

 extra labour and trouble, and it has the advantages of 

 giving much better access to the crop, for the purposes of 

 hoeing and cleaning, as the work can be done with equal 

 facility from both sides of the field, so as to lessen mate- 

 rially the necessity for hand-labour in hoeing along the 

 line of plants, as is the case in most of our root crops. 



The planting, if only a small breadth is to be occupied, 

 is usually done by dibbling ; an active man, with a boy to 

 serve him with plants, will do from 4000 to 5000 per day. 

 When a large extent of surface is to be planted, the plough 

 may be used advantageously in the work. Instead of a 

 light furrow for marking the distances between the rows, 

 it should be held in pretty deep, so as to form a sufficient 

 bed for the plants ; these are then carefully laid one by one 

 at the marked distances on the side of the furrow where the 

 soil has been thrown out, care being taken that the roots 

 shall lie at the bottom of the newly-drawn furrow, and 

 the crown of the young plant about on a level with the 



