390 THE CABBAGE CROP. 



On examining the composition of the young plant be- 

 fore its growth ,was sufficiently advanced to form the 

 heart, its proximate compounds were found to possess a 

 higher feeding value than it possesses at a later period 

 of its growth. 



Composition of young plant : 



Water, 9178 



Compounds containing nitrogen, 2'11 



Compounds destitute of nitrogen as fibre, gum, sugar, &c., 4'51 

 Ash, 1-60 



100-00 



The results obtained by these investigations confirm 

 the opinion generally entertained, that plants, or parts 

 of plants grown under conditions sheltered from light, 

 contain more water, and a less proportion of nutritive 

 matter, than those which have been exposed to the sun's 

 rays, and have carried on their processes of development 

 under natural conditions. A practical deduction of some 

 importance may be based on these results. The fact of 

 the outer leaves of the drumhead cabbage containing such 

 a large increase of food-materials over those forming the 

 heart of the plant, would lead us to infer that, weight for 

 weight, the "open-headed" varieties are more nutritive 

 than the "compact-headed/' and that where the crop is 

 for home consumption, it would be to our interest to 

 cultivate the former rather than the latter, especially as 

 the tillage expenses are not increased, and the yield is 

 equally large. 



The feeding qualities of the cabbage are highly esti- 

 mated, especially for sheep and cattle. In some compara- 

 tive feeding experiments, 1 in which cabbages (drumheads) 



1 Report on " Cultivation of Cabbage, and its Comparative Value for Feed- 

 ing Purposes," by J. M'Laren, Rossie Priory, luclitura. High. Soc. Trans., 

 1857, p. 373. 



