JUST HOW . 117 



obtained. The famous sauerkraut is probably the best known, 

 and to most Germans it is unexcelled. There are also cab- 

 bage pickles in great variety, besides cold slaw or a salad 

 made of the leaves finely shaved and served with a dress- 

 ing which, by the way, is improved by plenty of mustard. 

 There must not be forgotten, besides, the plain, homely, 

 workaday boiled cabbage which is always welcomed by a 

 hearty appetite. 



The student of botany will find it a good plan to allow 

 one or two cabbage heads to last over till the second season, 

 in order to collect some of the seeds that are developed in 

 the yellow flowers borne in a tall flower stalk three or four 

 feet high. 



The cabbage tribe is a large and most important one. All 

 the branches of the family, produced as they have been by 

 careful cultivation, are worthy of attention. Each has its own 

 distinctive characteristic as an article of diet. Cauliflower has 

 perhaps attained the most delicacy. Who, by the way, has 

 spoken of it as " cabbage with a college education" ? 



Carrots. In England and France carrots frequently appear 

 on the table and are esteemed so highly that they are often 

 grown under glass. Their virtues are becoming every day 

 better appreciated in America. Carrots and parsnips require 

 about the same treatment and are often planted at the same 

 time, although the carrots are harvested first. They are very 

 hardy and attract almost no insect or fungus enemies. 



The earth should be dug deep, for carrots have long roots ; 

 sow seed thick and as early in the spring as possible, planting 

 it one-half inch deep in rows about one foot apart. It grows 

 very slowly, so that a crop of radishes may be sown on top 

 and skimmed off the ground, as it were, before the carrots 

 need the space. In fact, radishes actually help the growth 

 of carrots, since they break the soil for this slower crop. 



