THE CABBAGES. 43 



from his crop of early cabbages. He plants about three 

 acres every year, some of it on land which had been in 

 other crops the previous year, and some of it on land 

 which has grown cabbages for several years. His crop 

 on the old land is earlier and better than that on the new 

 soil. No matter how heavily he manures the new land, 

 he cannot make it as productive the first year as the old 

 piece ; the reason is, that the manure can not be so thor- 

 oughly worked into the soil the first year. This is a 

 point of great importance in horticulture. We not only 

 need to manure our land heavily, but to thoroughly mix 

 the manure with the soil. 



EARLY CABBAGE PLANTS. 



Early cabbages bring a high price, and it will pay to 

 take extra pains with them. There are two ways of 

 raising early cabbages, one is by setting out plants which 

 were started the autumn previous and wintered over in 

 cold frames. The other plan is by sowing the seed in a 

 hot-bed or greenhouse early in the spring, and when 

 the plants are large enough and have been properly 

 hardened off, set them out in the field or garden. It 

 is possible to get the cabbages just as early from the 

 spring-sown plants as from those sown in autumn. 

 As to which is best depends very much on circumstances. 

 Kecent practice seems to be tending more and more to- 

 ward the use of spring-sown plants. 



Where only a few plants are needed for home use, a 

 good plan is to sow a little seed in a box in the house. 

 After the plants are up you must give them as much sun 

 as possible, and be careful not to keep them in too warm 

 a room. During warm days the box may be placed out of 

 doors in the sun, in a spot sheltered from the prevailing 

 wind. Cabbages are hardy, and when raised in a hot-bed 

 or in the house they are much more likely to be kept too 



