VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AXD CULTURE. 301 



rich, if half tended) they will run into collards. Stir the 

 soil, and less manure is required. 



If the fall sowing has been neglected, sow the seeds in 

 January or early in February in a cold frame, as directed 

 in the article on the Beet; or they may be sown in the 

 open ground when the heavy frosts that freeze the soil are 

 over, and covered with litter, if protection is needed 

 against unseasonable frosts, to be removed when the 

 danger is over. Transplant and cultivate as above. 



For the middle crop to last through the summer, the 

 seed can be sown as above, or at any time until the middle 

 of April. The cultivation is the same, except that the 

 plants should be set about sixteen to eighteen inches 

 apart. The varieties will not head unless the ground be 

 rich, rather moist, and, above all, diligently worked. 



Sow the late crop about the first of April. It is sown 

 the first of May near New York, but, sown at that season 

 in the South, it is not certain to come up. If seed of any 

 of the cabbage tribe bo sown alter the weather grows 

 warm, it must be watered in the drill, or covered Avith 

 rich, fresh earth, which must be pressed upon it by walk- 

 ing on a board, and it must be shaded by a covering of 

 boards or pine brush during the da}', removing it at night, 

 until the plants get a little established. If the weather is 

 warm and wet, the covering may be dispensed with. They 

 should not be transplanted until July or August. Let 

 the ground be well spaded, and thoroughly manured. The 

 plants must be set in the ground up to the first leaf, no matter 

 how long the stem man he, or they will not head. They also 

 require a rich soil, but not from fresh manure. The 

 manure for the cabbage crop should be thoroughly de- 

 composed, or the plants will be covered with aphides or 

 cabbage lice. The best way is to throw the ground into 

 ridges from two to two and a half feet apart, making the 

 trenches between more or less deep, according to.the 



