HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



CAB 



by careful selection under cultivation The 

 various stages of these improvements have 

 not been sufficiently noted to enable us to 

 award the credit where it properly belongs. 

 All the Cabbage tribe requires the soil to be 

 rich, deep and well drained naturally or arti- 

 ficially and abundantly manured. For the 

 early kinds plant thirty inches between rows 

 and sixteen inches between the plants, and 

 for late kinds plant three feet by two feet. In 

 the improvements made within the last fifty 

 years the market gardeners around New 

 York have taken a conspicuous part, and to 

 them we are indebted for our best market 

 varieties. The three most popular kinds for 

 market purposes are "Early Wakefield," 

 "Early Summer" and "Succession." The 

 Bed Cabbage, B. oleracea rubra, is an entirely 

 distinct variety, but its origin and early 

 development are unknown. It has been known 

 in Holland for several hundred years, and the 

 Dutch have made the growing of the seed an 

 extensive business. The Savoy Cabbage, B. 

 oleracea bullata, differs but little from the 

 other kinds of Cabbage. It is distinguished 

 by its leaves being wrinkled in such a manner 

 as to have a netted appearance. The Savoys 

 are remarkable for their tender, crisp leaves 

 and excellent flavor. It would seem not to 

 be generally known that the Savoys are the 

 most delicious of all the Cabbages. The 

 Brussels Sprouts, or Bud-bearing Cabbage, B. 

 oleracea bullata geminifera, originated in Bel- 

 gium, and has from a very early date been ex- 

 tensively grown around Brussels, where it 

 seems to thrive better than in most other 

 countries. It forms a head somewhat like 

 the Savoy, of which it is considered a sub- 

 variety, differing in the remarkable manner 

 in which it produces at the axils of the leaves, 

 along the whole length of the stem, a num- 

 ber of small sprouts resembling miniature 

 Cabbages of one or two inches in diameter, of 

 an excellent flavor. 



Cabbage. Arkansas. Streptanthus obtusifolius. 

 Skunk, or Meadow. Symplocarpus fcetidus. 



Cabbage Maggot. See Insects. 



Cabbage Palm. See Areca and Oreodoxa olera- 

 cea. 



Caca'lia. Tassel Flower. From kakos, perni- 

 cious, and lian, exceedingly; supposed to be 

 hurtful to the soil. Nat. Ord. Composites. 



C. coccinea, the only species worthy of cul- 

 tivation in the flower garden, is a half-hardy 

 annual, that can be grown readily from seed 

 sown where wanted to grow. Its bright scar- 

 let blossoms are borne in profusion from July 

 to October. Introduced from New Holland in 

 1792. 



Caca'o or Coco'a. The seeds of Theobroma 

 Cacao, which form the chief ingredient in pure 

 chocolate. 



Caccinia. Named hi honor of G. Caccini, an 

 Italian Savant. Nat. Ord. BoraginacecB. 



A small genus of hardy perennial herbs, 

 natives of the Orient. C. glauca, the only 

 species yet in cultivation, has racemose cymes 

 of violet-blue flowers changing to red. It 

 grows from one to three feet high, and may 

 be increased by seeds or division. Intro- 

 duced from Afghanistan in 1880. 



Cacta'cese. A natural order consisting of suc- 

 culent shrubs, with remarkable spines clus- 



CAC 



tored on the stems, which are angular, round, 

 two-edged, or leafy, and have their woody 

 matter often arranged in a wedge-like 

 manner. The calyx consists of numerous 

 sepals, the petals are numerous ; the stamens 

 are numerous, with long filaments. The 

 fruit is succulent, and the seeds without 

 albumen. They are natives of various parts 

 of America, but have been introduced into 

 many parts of the world. The fruits of the 

 Opuntias are called Indian Figs, and are 

 edible, having a sub-acid and refreshing 

 juice. The stems of some of the species 

 are eaten by cattle. These stems vary greatly 

 in form, some being spherical, others jointed, 

 while still others are triangular, and some 

 send polygonal shafts sixty feet or more into 

 the air. These stems are veiy succulent or 

 fleshy, and the plants are thus adapted to dry 

 climates, or, rather, such as have a "dry sea- 

 son." Among the tall-growing kinds may be 

 mentioned Cereus giganteus growing sixty or 

 more feet high, and from one to two feet in 

 diameter ; C. Peruvianus, with stems thirty to 

 forty feet high; C. Thurberi, with stems ten 

 to fifteen feet high, and C. Schottii, with stems 

 eight to ten feet high. The spines on some 

 Cacti are very formidable, and on others very 

 numerous. The spines and bristles on a 

 specimen of Echinocartus platyceras were reck- 

 oned at 51,000, and those of a Pilocereus senilis 

 at 72,000. Opuntia vulgaris, our common 

 Prickly Pear, bears an edible fruit. O. cochi- 

 nillifera (Nopalea), the Nopal plant, is very 

 largely grown for rearing the Cochineal 

 insect (Coccus Cacti). The number of known 

 genera is eighteen, and there are over eight 

 hundred species. Cereus, Epiphyllum, Phyllo- 

 cactus, Mammillaria, Melocactus, Pereskia, etc., 

 are examples of this order. 



Ca'ctus. A name applied by Theophrastus to 

 semi-spiny plants. Nat. Ord. Cactacece. 



The very remarkable succulent plants, 

 arranged by Linnaeus under the name of Cac- 

 tus, have been distributed by modern bot- 

 anists over numerous genera, which they are 

 still continually changing and re-arranging. 

 At first a few plants were left in the genus Cac- 

 tus, but now that genus is annihilated, and 

 seven or eight new genera substituted for it ; 

 still, as all the plants that once composed it, 

 and the new ones of the same nature that col- 

 lectors are continually sending home, are 

 known by the general name of Cacti, it has 

 been thought advisable to give here a slight 

 sketch of the whole family. In the time of 

 Linnaeus very few Cacti were known, and 

 even in the year 1807, Persoon enumerated 

 only thirty-two; but now about 500 living 

 species are to be found in a single collection, 

 and numbers of new species are being sent 

 home by collectors every year. These new 

 species are chiefly found in the tropical 

 regions of America, but they extend over 75 

 of latitude, some being found within the 

 boundary of the United States and some near 

 the town of Conception, in Chili. By far the 

 greater number, however, grow in the dry, 

 burning plains of Mexico and Brazil, where 

 they are subjected to the alternate seasons of 

 extreme moisture and extreme drought. In 

 these arid plains, where all nature seems 

 parched up for six months in the year, the 

 Cacti have been mercifully provided to serve as 



