COLLARDS. 83 



Prof. W. F. Massey o£ the North CaroUna 

 experiment station, highly recommends its use at 

 the south, and speaks of it as follows in the American 

 Agriculturist: 



To most northern readers the collard is an 

 unknown vegetable, lightly passed over in seedsmen's 

 catalogues as a "non-heading variety of cabbage 

 grown in the south,"- and but few of them know that 

 when properly blanched even the loose, unheaded 

 collard is a vastly sweeter and more delicate vegetable 

 than the northern cabbage. Therefore, if it can be 

 induced to head and bleach with certainty we will 

 have no cause to regret most of the coarse, large 

 cabbages. There are several varieties grown, from 

 the dark purple-leaved, green-leaved, to a variety 

 with a loose, open head, but self-blanching. I believe 

 that we have at the station the seed of the cream of 

 all the collards from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, 

 Georgia, and North Carolina, and may count on good 

 results. In the meantime I am by no means satisfied 

 that the best of the northern cabbages cannot be 

 grown here. 



The general practice with growers here is to 

 sow cabbage seed in the spring, just as truck farmers 

 at the north do, and transplant in July, and then 

 when the cabbages succumb to the long heat and 

 drouth, and the swarming insects, conclusion is 

 reached that we cannot grow cabbages for winter 

 use in this climate. Last summer I sowed seed of 

 Late Flat Dutch cabbage the middle of August. The 

 plants were set out in September. But the autumn 

 was uncommonly dry, and I feared at one time the 

 experiment would be a total failure. Yet in spite 

 of all, and in soil of only moderate fertility, very fair 



