194 GARDENING FOE THE SOUTH. 



transplanted. There are two modes of preventing this. 

 The best method is to sow the ground intended for cab- 

 bage, the autumn after being spaded up, with salt at the 

 rate of eight bushels per acre. If you have not already 

 sown your cabbage plot with salt, there is another plan to 

 keep off the cutworm, equally successful. Throw your 

 ground into ridges and trenches sixteen inches apart ; let 

 these trenches be at least six inches deep. In the bottom 

 of these transplant your cabbages, one foot apart. Some 

 use a dibble, but a trowel is much better, as it does not 

 leave the soil hard. Prepare your ground in dry weather, 

 but choose a moist day for transplanting. It is a good 

 plan to wet the roots before planting out. When they 

 get rooted, stir the soil gently about them, but do not fill 

 up the trenches until the plants are so large that there is 

 no danger of the worm. This method of protecting cab- 

 bages was pointed out to me by a negro gardener several 

 years since, and I have tried it repeatedly. The worm 

 will not go down into the trenches to destroy the plants. 



When the plants get strong, the ground should be 

 deeply and repeatedly hoed. Do this while the dew is 

 on, and retain its ammonia in the soil. The cabbage is 

 partial to moisture, so hoe it frequently, and when you go 

 out in the morning, you will find the plot moist with dew, 

 while the unstirred soil around is dry as ever. The only 

 secret in raising early cabbage is, set your plants in rich 

 ground and stir the soil. On poor ground (and even on 

 rich, if half tended) they will run into collards. Stir the 

 soil, and less manure is required. 



If the fall sowing has been neglected, sow the seeds in 

 January or early in February, in a'cold frame, as directed 

 in the article on the Beet ; or they may be sown in the 

 open ground when the heavy frosts that freeze the soil are 

 over, covering them with litter, if protection is needed 

 against unseasonable frosts, to be removed when the 

 danger is over. Transplant and cultivate as above. 



