206 CABBAGE. 



CABBAGE. 



The soil best suited to tlie growth of the Cabhage is a dee]> 

 and very rich loam. The plants flourish best in a cool, moist 

 season, and are impatient of long-continued droughts and extreme 

 hot weather. Hence in this cUmate our best heads axe generally 

 obtained from late-grown plants, which grow rapidly and form 

 compact, tender heads as the autumn weather comes on. Fre- 

 quent stirring of the soil is exceedingly beneficial to the Cabbage, 

 and an abundant supply of weU rotted manure essential to the 

 attainment of the best results. Ashes and Ume are excellent 

 manures for the Cabbage, and best of aU finely-ground bones, at 

 the rate of a ton to the acre, sown broadcast on the ploughed 

 ground and harrowed in. It is said by experienced market gar- 

 deners that the liberal use of ground bones or a liberal application 

 of lime to the soil will prevent the attacks of the maggot in 

 the root, which insects are often very injurious to the young Cab- 

 bage plants. 



To obtain early Cabbage, the seed is sown in September, 

 about the fifteenth of the month, and the young plants set out 

 in a cold frame just before winter, about the first of November, 

 and protected from the extreme cold, by placing double sashes 

 over them. Another method, and the one most commonly 

 practised among our farmers, is to start a hot-bed in March, and 

 in this sow the Cabbage seed. For late Cabbage, the seed is 

 usually sown about the first of May, in a prepared bed or cold 

 frame. In all these cases the Cabbage plants are subsequently 

 transplanted to the open ground, which has been previously pre- 

 pared to receive them, choosing a damp, cloudy day, just after a 

 shower, for the transplanting. 



Cabbage may be preserved for winter use in a cool cellar or 

 root house, where the thermometer is kept just above the freezing 

 point. The best manner of doing this is to pull up those having 

 good, solid heads when they are dry, strip off a few of the outer 



