1450 Tur VeceraBLe [ypustry 1x New York State 
and Mr. Ihrig soon began to call the sprouts “ Tom Thumb cab- 
bages,” and sell them to clubs and hotels under this name. About 
1880 three barrels shipped in midwinter by Mr. Youngs of Orient 
were promptly sold by Mr. Ihrig, who sent back a check for sixty 
dollars. 
The region about Orient continues to be one of the most impor- 
tant sources of supply of this vegetable for the New York market, 
the crop now amounting annually to something like 300,000 
quarts. The area planted each year is approximately 125 acres. 
PREPARING THE SOIL. ROTATION OF CROPS 
The preparation of soil and rotation of crops already described 
for cauliflowers applies equally well to Brussels sprouts. Late 
sprouts are grown as a succession crop following potatoes, or occa- 
sionally early carrots; for early sprouts the land is plowed in 
May and kept harrowed until time for setting the plants on new 
land. Sprouts are occasionally grown two years in succession but 
commonly three or four years are allowed to intervene between 
crops. No eruciferous crops, such as turnips, should be grown 
on the land meantime, as these serve as hosts for the club-root. 
Sprouts are commonly followed by potatoes, but frequently by 
corn or carrots; some then seed down to grass and so return to 
potatoes and sprouts. Some persons grow potatoes every year in 
the intervals between successive crops of sprouts. 
Cover crops are commonly employed on the sprout fields. One 
of the leading growers finds timothy most satisfactory, broadcast- 
ing it in August over cucumbers or other late crops. The seed 
lodging on the leaves is washed into the soil by the first rain, 
and by winter the ground is well carpeted. Even if the top-growth 
is small, and the amount of vegetable matter appears trifling, 
when the land is turned over the soil near the surface is found to 
be densely filled with fine roots, and the texture of the soil greatly 
benefited. Another good grower will sow oats in August after 
potatoes, spread with ‘ bunkers’ (mossbunkers or menhaden) dur- 
ing the fall, plow under and sow to rye for a winter cover. The 
next May the rye, then twelve to eighteen inches high, is plowed 
under and the land kept clean by harrowing till late June, when 
early sprouts are set. In the fall rye is sometimes sown among the 
sprouts, but the ground is then rather denselv shaded to permit 
