KALE. 



297 



The White and Bed Cablagc. In tliese tlis 

 leaves gatlier into what is called a head, and are 

 blanched by their own compression. The gxeen 

 colour is always much more completely des- 

 troyed by this blanching than the red ; and the 

 smaller the tendency which the expanded leaves 

 have to blue or purple, the more sweet and crisp 

 wiU the head become. 



Cabbages are propagated by seed, which is 

 sown at the three seasons, spring, summer, and 

 autumn, to obtain a supply in succession. The 

 soil for the seed-beds should be light, and not 

 very rich. 



The plants, from seed sown in autumn, are 

 finally transplanted in spring. Most generally the 

 seedlings are pricked out fi-om the seed-beds as 

 soon as they have one or two leaves of an inch 

 or two broad, into beds of good earth : thence 

 they are transplanted into a rich soil, which 

 should be well manured. 



Kale or Colewort. — In these the leaves are 

 expanded and colovired, with the exception of a 

 small portion in the centre, which encloses the 

 rudiments of the flowering stem. The plain- 

 leaved colewort is now seldom found in English 

 cultivation. Borecole, or curly-leaved colewort, 

 Brassica oleracea var. S sabellica, very generally, 

 however, finds a place in our gardens. The 

 green borecole, or Scotch kale, and the purple 

 or brown borecole, are the most hardy of the 

 race, and are therefore best adapted for cold situ- 

 ations and late seasons. The plants, when vege- 

 tating in a rich soil, grow vigorously, and attain 

 to large dimensions ; but, in common with most 

 of the genus, moderate sized plants are best for 

 culinary purposes, the very large being harsh, 

 and those which are so small as to be stunted 

 are better. 



Sauerkraut, "that excellent preparation" of 

 the Germans, and of which they are so immod- 

 erately fond, is merely fermented cabbage. To 

 prepare this, close-headed white cabbages are cut 

 in shreds, and placed in a four-inch layer in a 

 cask; this is strewed with salt, unground pepper, 

 and a small quantity of salad oil : a man with 

 clean wooden shoes then gets into the cask, and 

 treads the whole together till it is well mixed 

 and compact. Another layer is then added, 

 which is again trod down, and so on until the 

 cask is entirely filled. The whole is then sub- 

 jected to heavy pressure, and allowed to ferment; 

 when the fermentation has subsided, the barrels 

 in which it is prepared are closed up, and it is 

 preserved for use. The preparing of sauerkraut 

 is considered of so much importance as to form 

 a separate profession, which is principally en- 

 grossed by the Tyrolese. The operation of 

 shredding the cabbage is now performed by a 

 machine, which the men can-y on their backs 

 from house to house; this means for the abridge- 

 ment of labour has not been invented more than 



ten or twelve years. Every German family 

 stores up, according to its size, one or more 

 large casks of this vegetable preparation. Octo- 

 ber and November are the busy months for the 

 work, and huge white pyramids of cabbage are 

 seen ci-owding the markets; while in every court 

 and yard into which an accidental peep is ob- 

 tained, all is bustle and activity in the concoct- 

 ing of this national food, and the baskets piled 

 with shredded cabbage resemble " mountains of 

 green-tinged- froth or syllabub." 



Sauerkraut has been found of sovereign effi- 

 cacy as a preservative from scurvy during long 

 voyages. It was for many years used in our 

 navy for this purpose, until displaced by lemon- 

 juice, which is equally a specific, while it is not 

 so bulky an article for store. 



The larger and grosser kinds of cabbage are 

 used as food for cattle. But this nutriment has 

 a great tendency to impart a disagreeable flavour 

 to the milk of cows fed on it, and even to tlie 

 flesh of other cattle. This unpleasant eifect 

 may, we are told, be prevented by removing the 

 withered leaves ; but cabbage is more disposed 

 to fermentation and putrefaction than almost any 

 other vegetable. When cultivated as food for 

 stock, it is of course a matter of importance with 

 agriculturists to produce the greatest weight in 

 a given» space. The average crop, as stated by 

 Mr Arthur Young, is thirty-six tons per acre, 

 when the plants are grown on a dry soil, which 

 is very similar to that quoted from other and 

 more modem writers ; but on a sandy soil only 

 eighteen tons have been obtained. Some cab- 

 bages are occasionally produced of an astonishing 

 size and weight. A cabbage seed accidentally 

 sown among onions came up in the onion bed, 

 and without any care being taken of it, grew to 

 veiy large dimensions, and weighed, when taken 

 up, twenty-five pounds. A cabbage was also 

 produced in Devonshire, two or three years back, 

 which, when growing, occupied a space of fif- 

 teen feet of ground, measured five feet in circum- 

 ference, and weighed sixty pounds. 



A variety of brassica, under the name of cow- 

 cabbage (Irassiea oleracea, var. arhorescens), has 

 been recently introduced into this country from 

 La Vendee by the Comte de Puysage. The 

 proximity of this department to the ancient pro- 

 vince of Anjou, and the description of the plant, 

 leave no doubt of its identity with the Anjou 

 cabbage, a very large variety described by Mill, 

 In 1827 thirty-six seeds were divided among six 

 agriculturists, for the purpose of raising this use- 

 ful vegetable in England. The perfect success 

 resulting from some of these seeds, which have 

 produced plants of a luxuriant growth, is already 

 known ; and horticulture is now so much more 

 disseminated and understood in this country, 

 that there is every reason to hope that the cow- 

 cabbage will at length become naturalized in 

 2i> 



