1 70 GARDEN FARMING 



Truck-crop cultivation. Most of the work of cultivation can be 

 deferred until the active growing period in the spring. Care should 

 be taken, however, to prevent weed growth which would in any 

 way interfere with the development of the young plants. After the 

 side dressing of fertilizer has been applied in the spring, cultiva- 

 tion will tend to bring the soil more nearly to a level condition. 

 The side dressing is applied, as shown in figure 59, to every other 

 "middle." The distributors are so constructed that two rows of 



FIG. 59. A cabbage field after a side dressing of fertilizer has been given 



plants are fertilized at one operation. If a second application of 

 fertilizer is necessary it is applied to the alternate middles. 



Enemies and diseases of the truck crop. In the trucking region 

 the chief enemies of the cabbage are the harlequin cabbage bug, 

 which sometimes causes considerable damage to the plant beds in 

 the fall ; the green cabbage worm, which, in some instances, 

 causes considerable loss ; and the cabbage louse, which is the worst 

 enemy of the cabbage in this region. 



Among the diseases which are at the present time causing con- 

 siderable annoyance to cabbage growers is one of a physiological 

 nature which has been brought about by the improper handling of 



