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LETTER XXVII. 



"X7 O U certainly muft have remarked in 

 ■*■ the minutes of this journey, that no 

 tillage crop (all which I think we mould 

 confider before we come to grafs lands or 

 general ceconomy) makes fo diftinguifhable 

 a figure as Cabbages. This branch of 

 field culture is new in England, although it 

 has been ufed in Germany, and fome of the 

 more northern parts of Europe, for many 

 years, perhaps ages. I do not remember 

 cabbages being expreflly treated of, as food 

 for cattle, in any book of hufbandry, until 

 Mr. Randal published his Semi Virgilian 

 Hufbandry a few years ago. He therein re- 

 commends the culture of the large Scotch for 

 fatting oxen, enters particularly into direc- 

 tions how to prepare for them, and ajferts 

 their being particularly profitable. As that 

 gentleman was a practical farmer, I take it 

 for granted that he has cultivated them, 

 though I think he does not expreflly men- 

 tion it. He does not infert one experiment 

 upon them. The preparation he recom- 

 mends is prodigioufly expenfive, more fo, I 

 apprehend, than trench digging land two 

 feet deep ; infomuch that the culture of this 



excellent 



