VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 



297 



drumhead cabbage, and keeps very well. The head is 

 round, flattened at top. It is nearly as delicate as the 

 curled variety. 



The Savoys are not as certain a crop as the other cab- 

 bages, but far superior in delicacy. They are nearly equal 

 to cauliflowers. 



Cult tor. — An analysis of different varieties of the cab- 

 bage shows them all to contain a very large proportion of 





Fig 112 — Savoy Cabbage. 



nitrogen; after evaporating the water, drumhead cabbage 

 gives of nitrogen 17.899 parts in a hundred; Savoy, 20.763; 

 red, 16.212; turnip-rooted, 19.052. We also find this plant 

 remarkably rich in phosphorus and sulphur; hence its un- 

 pleasant smell in decay, like that of animal matter. It 

 abounds also in soda and potash. Hence, common salt, to 

 yield soda and chlorine, wood ashes for potash, bone for 

 phosphoric acid, and gypsum, to add sulphur and lime, 

 together with a soil saturated with manure of animals, 

 especially the liquid excretion, all come in play in making 



