20 CABBAGE. 



in growing the plants and in transplanting them, 

 and constant cultivation until the crop is matured, 

 will develop a type remarkable for size and vigor, 

 with excellent keeping qualities, and be what is 

 known as a Late Flat Dutch or Drumhead cabbage. 

 On the other hand, take the same stock seed, grow 

 it on a light, sandy soil, under the same climatic 

 influences, with the same care in cultivation, always 

 selecting with a view to earliness and solidity, and 

 the result will be, in the same number of years, a 

 variety of the same general form, but of smaller size, 

 and very much earlier. Again, a soil intermediate 

 in character, from the same stock, during the same 

 period, with the same care in selection, will give a 

 variety intermediate in character as well as in period 

 of growth. Under such conditions have been pro- 

 duced the several varieties introduced from Long 

 Island. 



It is an established principle in agriculture that 

 a sandy soil is favorable for an early growth, and a 

 heavy soil for a continuous growth. Early and late, 

 large and small varieties, are not to be expected from 

 the same soil and under the same conditions of 

 growth, both natural and artificial. It must, of 

 necessity, take a longer time to grow a head of cab- 

 bage weighing twenty pounds than one half the 

 weight. I have thus far spoken of the development 

 of the cabbage by selection under natural conditions, 

 but there are other methods employed by specialists. 

 These are of an artificial character and have been 

 material helps in selection. When these specialists 

 harvest their stock seed, they examine each plant 

 carefully before cutting it, and if the seed is of large 

 size it is rejected, because they hold that such seeds 



