CABBAGE. 21 



will make leaves instead of heads. Besides that 

 these men will not use seed until it is at least three 

 years old ; for the same reason they will not use large 

 seed. This statement corroborates the assertion that 

 the conditions favorable for the production of the 

 fruit are unfavorable for the production of a good 

 quality of seed. We may, however, add that a hand- 

 some sample is not always a good sample, always 

 excepting instances, as in the cereals, where the seed 

 is the part consumed. 



Local causes have more to do in forming a type 

 than the efforts of all the horticulturists in the world 

 combined. No one can change natural laws one 

 iota, and they will control vegetable growth in spite 

 of all that man can do. All the most scientific (and 

 this means practical, for a man that is truly practical 

 is absolutely scientific) can do is to work in harmony 

 with the conditions of climate and soil as they exist. 

 If a given variety does better on a certain soil than 

 on another, that is the one to grow at all times, and 

 in a locality where any vegetable form shows a ten- 

 dency to improve, under good cultivation, there the 

 seed should be grown to perpetuate it. And where 

 any vegetable form shows, in the slightest degree, 

 an inclination to deteriorate, even with the best cul- 

 tivation, there the seed should not be saved to per- 

 petuate the variety. 



Probably more distinct types or strains of cab- 

 bage have originated on Long Island, N. Y., than 

 in. any other section in the world ; and why ? First, 

 because cabbage succeeds best here; and secondly, 

 because of the marked difference in soil in close 

 proximity. Sixty years ago there were but three 

 distinct varieties of cabbage grown there, viz., Flat 



