300 GAEDENING FOE THE SOUTH. 



planted. There are two modes of preventing this. The 

 best method is to sow the ground intended for cabbage, 

 the autumn after being spaded up, with salt at the rale 

 of eight bushels per acre. If you have not already sown 

 your cabbage plot with salt, there is another plan to keep 

 off the cutworm, equally successful. Throw your ground 

 into ridges and trenches sixteen inches apart; let these 

 trenches be at least six inches deep. In the bottom of 

 these transplant your cabbages, one foot apart. Some 

 use a dibble, but a trowel is much better, as it does not 

 leave the soil hard. Prepare your ground in dry weather, 

 but choose a moist day for transplanting. It is a good 

 plan to wet the roots before planting out. When they 

 get rooted, stir the soil gently about them, but do not fill 

 up the trenches until the plants are so large that there is 

 no danger of the worm. This method of protecting cab- 

 bages was pointed out to me by a negro gardener several 

 years since, and I have tried it repeatedly. The worm 

 will not go down into the trenches to destroy the plants. 



Mr. Weed, entomologist of the Mississippi Experiment 

 Station, makes an excellent suggestion for destroying the 

 Harlequin or terrapin bug. He recommends the planting 

 of mustard between the rows of cabbage. The bugs will 

 gather on the mustard in preference to the cabbage, and 

 the plants can be pulled up and burned, or the mustard 

 mnj be sprayed with pure kerosene. 



When the plants get strong the ground should be 

 deeply and repeatedly hoed. Do this while the dew is 

 on, and retain its ammonia in the soil. The cabbage is 

 partial to moisture, so hoe it frequently, and when you go 

 out in the morning, you will find the plot moist with dew, 

 while the unstirred soil around is dry as ever. The only 

 secret in raising early cabbage is, set your plants in rich 

 ground and stir the mil. On poor ground (and even on 



