202 



CABBAGE 



CACALIA 



seed that this or any other vegetable can be improved, 

 or even its present good qualities maintained. It would 

 seem to be an easy matter to save and use only the seed 

 of a few of the most perfect Cabbages, for the plant is 

 capable of enormous seed production. We have known 

 a single plant to yield 35 ounces of seed, enough, 

 if every seed grew, to furnish the plants for 50 acres ; 

 but it is not quite so easy as this showing would make 

 it— first, because the yield mentioned is an exceptional 

 one, and, secondly, because it is very seldom that an 

 isolated plant yields a crop of seed. The flower of the 

 Cabbage is sexually perfect, and I think there is no dis- 

 covered reason why individual plants are self-impo- 

 tent, but we have never succeeded in getting more 

 than a very few seeds from an isolated plant, either in 

 the open air or when enclosed in an insect-tight struc- 

 ture of glass and cloth, in which a number of bees were 

 confined. Again, we have repeatedly isolated the best 

 plant of an hundred, setting the rest in a block, and the 

 few seeds obtained from the isolated one produced plants 

 showing more variation, and quite inferior in evenness 

 and type, than those from the block. At least one of our 

 popular varieties is made up of the descendants of a 

 single isolated plant, but it is a curious fact that in the 

 second and subsequent generations the stock was very 

 different in type from that of the selected plant from 

 which it was descended. The originator of one of our 

 best varieties maintains that it is essential to the produc- 

 tion of the best seed of that sort that' seed-plants of very 

 different types should be set together, and by crossing 

 they will produce and give plants of the desired type. 

 In spite of those facts, we believe that the general rule 

 and practice which give the best results with other plants 

 are equally desirable for the Cabbage, and that in this, 

 as with other plants, we should first form a distinct and 

 exact conception of the plant we wish to produce, and 

 then raise seed from the one which comes nearest to that 

 ideal. It would seem that the necessity of a distinct and 

 well defined ideal of exactly what we want to produce 

 would be self-evident, but some seed-growers have a 

 very vague idea of the exact type wanted. Some years 

 ago we visited the originator of one of our best varieties, 

 for the purpose of learning what he considered the type 

 ot' the variety. He was an intelligent man, a good culti- 

 vator, and had been growing this strain for over twenty 

 years. He took us into a field of as handsome Cabbages 

 as we ever saw, but which were far from uniform. We 

 asked him to select an ideal plant of his strain, and care- 

 fully noted its every characteristic. Going to another 

 part of the field, we asked him to select another, and he 

 picked out one which in color, shape, and general charac- 

 ter of the crop, was very different from the first. Both 

 were fine market Cabbages, but so different that if either 

 were taken as the true type of the variety, the other 

 should be thrown out of a seed crop as being a different 

 sort. Third and fourth selections were intermediate 

 between the first two, and the fifth very nearly like the 

 first. This man had been growing this strain for twenty 

 years, and was intent upon developing a strain of supe- 

 rior quality for marketing, and in his selection and 

 breeding had looked solely to the selling quality of the 

 heads. His course was as unwise as it would be for a 

 breeder of Jersey cattle to breed from black, red, white, 

 big or little cows, regardless of anything but the qual- 

 ity of their milk. Having formed a carefully consid- 

 ered ideal, we should select from 10 to 100 of the 

 plants which come nearest to it, and from these make 

 an ext;-a selection of about one-tenth of the best. We 

 would set the whole lot in a nearly square block, with 

 the extra selections in the center. We would save and 

 plant seed from each extra select plant by itself, and 

 having, by very careful examination, ascertained which 

 lot adhered most closely and evenly to our ideal type, 

 would select our plants for next year's seeding from it, 

 rather than use the best individual plants found in all 

 the lots. Experience has satisfied us that by this method 

 we can gradually fix and improve our stocks, and grow 

 seed much better than that usually produced. 



In commercial seed-growing, they aim to so time the 

 planting that the crop will be just coming to maturity 

 at the time of storing for winter. Mixtures and inferior 

 plants can be detected and thrown out then as well as 

 when the plants are fully matured, and the younger 



plants will go through the winter and seed better than 

 those which are fully ripe when put away for the win- 

 ter. The plants are usually wintered in the manner 

 described for storing for market use, except that the 

 trench is usually narrower. The plants are set out for 

 seed-bearing as early as possible in the spring. It is 

 usually necessary to carefully open the head by two 

 cross-cuts with a knife in order to let the tender seed- 

 stalk break through. The plants are given double or 

 treble the space which they required the first year. It 

 is generally true that the more developed and better the 

 stock, the smaller the yield of seed, -^^ tj^^ Tkaoy. 



CABOMB A (aboriginal name). JVymphceclcecB. Haifa 

 dozen aquatics of ^he western hemisphere, with small 

 fiowers having persistent sepals and petals, each 3 or 4, 

 and stamens few ; carpels 2-3, free and distinct, and 

 submerged Ivs. finely dissected and mostly opposite. 



CaroliniS,na, Gray (C. aqudtica, DC, not Aubl. O. 

 viridifoUa, Hort.). i Floating Ivs. green, oblong-linear : 

 fls. white, with 2 yellow spots at base of each petal ; 

 stamens 6. N. Car., S. and W. A. G. 15:157.— C. ros(«- 

 fdlia, Hort., is a form with reddish Ivs. A.G. 15:157. 



The true O. aqudtica, Aubl., of trop. Amer., with 

 yellow fis. and nearly orbicular fioating Ivs., is shown 

 in B.M. 7090. l H. B. 



Cahomha OaroUniana is very largely used by growers 

 of aquatics. It is one of the indispensable plants for 

 the aquarium. It is grown largely in North Carolina, 

 District of Columbia and Maryland, where it can be ob- 

 tained in quantities during the year for persons in the 

 large eastern cities, where it is commonly called Fish 

 Grass, Washington Grass, etc. It is tied in bunches with 

 a metallic fastening, •which acts as a weight, thus re- 

 taining the same in a natural position in water. In a 

 moderate temperature it soon emits roots and grows 

 freely. It is a submerged plant, except in midsummer, 

 when the flowers are borne above the water, accompa- 

 nied by a few floating leaves. It is one of the best 

 plants for domestic fish. It also grows in New Jersey, 

 where it is quite hardy. G. roswfoUa is tender, does not 

 retain its delightful carmine coloring under confinement, 

 and is not so often met, except in Florida. 



William Tbioker. 



CAC Alia (ancient Greek name). Cotnpdsitce. Peren- 

 nial herbs, of which 9 or 10 are native to the U. S. 

 Florets all hermaphrodite, with white or flesh-colored 

 corollas, each of the 5 lobes with a midnerve : akenes 



... • ;«V v-fti< 

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yi;00m^m<m^ 



301. Cactus forms. 



