COLLARDS. 85 



heads of cabbage were made by Christmas. Had 

 the season been as rainy as usual the crop would 

 have been very good. Now here, it seems to me, is 

 a good suggestion to southern planters. Sow the 

 cabbage seed not earlier than the last of July. Set 

 the plants in ground naturally moist, manure very 

 heavily, and work rapidly, and good cabbage can be 

 grown in most seasons. Then, after succeeding in 

 getting good heads, save the best for seed, and 

 develop a strain suited to your wants. 



The cabbage, a native of a cool, moist climate, 

 must necessarily degenerate in our hot summers, but 

 in most places in the south all kinds of cabbage thrive 

 from October to May. We grow early cabbage for 

 the north in great quantities, and by bringing our 

 winter cabbages into the earlier part of the cool sea- 

 son, I can see no reason why we may not grow them 

 as well as the spring crop. So, while holding the 

 collard to be "a survival of the fittest" in this climate, 

 and proper stock to work on, we will not altogether 

 abandon the hope of profiting by the skillful selec- 

 tions of generations of seedsmen as represented in 

 the best sorts of heading cabbages. 



Fig. ii is an exact representation, engraved 

 after a photograph, of a specimen grown in Florida, 

 the stem of which was four feet high, and the hight 

 of the entire plant eight feet. 



