CABBAGE AS A FARM CROP 183 



rough handling in unloading and storing are to be avoided if 

 cabbage is to be stored successfully. 



Uses of cabbage. Cabbage is chiefly used as an edible in its 

 fresh state, but it is also manufactured into kraut. Kraut is made 

 somewhat as follows : Clean casks are selected, and one head re- 

 moved. A thin layer of salt is sprinkled over the bottom of each 

 cask. A kraut cutter is then placed on the top of the cask, and a 

 layer of cabbage from 3 to 4 inches deep is shaved off into the 

 cask and packed down onto the salt. Another layer of salt is 

 added, the quantity being sufficient to cause the cabbage to assume 

 a whitish, salty appearance, and this operation is repeated until the 

 cask is filled, when it is set away in a cool, shady place. It is nec- 

 essary in the operation to keep the freshly cut cabbage carefully 

 tamped in the cask in order to make it as solid as possible. The 

 kraut cutter consists of a series of knives placed on a board about 

 io or 1 2 inches wide and projecting through it somewhat after the 

 fashion of a plane blade ; clean heads of cabbage are pushed over 

 the board and shaved into thin strips. 



Cabbage is used to some extent for stock food, especially for 

 feeding store cattle ; it can also be used for dairy cattle, if very 

 carefully fed. Cabbage should never be housed in stables in which 

 dairy cows are being milked, and should be fed to milch cows in 

 limited quantities only, and then so that none of it will be available 

 to the cows for at least three hours before the milking period. 



Varieties. Many varieties and types of cabbage are used for 

 general field crops, and the fads of the markets must be consulted 

 and taken into consideration in selecting the variety to be grown. 

 Some markets demand a cone-shaped head, others a spherical, and 

 still others a flat cabbage. Each of these different forms is repre- 

 sented in standard varieties the Winningstadt and the Early 

 Jersey Wakefield have small conical heads, while All Seasons, 

 Danish Ball Head, and Sure Head are spherical in form, and the 

 Flat Dutch types are all large, broad, and flat. 



The first early sorts are Early Jersey Wakefield (or Wakefield) 

 and Charleston (or Charleston Wakefield). The second early sorts 

 are Henderson's Early Summer, All Seasons, and Henderson's Suc- 

 cession. The late varieties are Flat Dutch, Premium Flat Dutch, 

 Autumn King (or World Beater), Stone Mason, Winningstadt, 



