THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



29 



The Famous Georgia Collards 



T^HE collard is the best hot-climate plant 

 A of the cabbage family for greens. This 

 is a good thing to know, for the cabbage 

 is essentially a cold-climate vegetable, and 

 few of its forms will do their best in hot 

 weather. The collard does this at the ex- 

 pense of forming a compact, self-blanching 

 "head." Instead of having a broad, well- 

 rounded leaf, like a cabbage, it has a narrow, 

 deeply lobed leaf, and these leaves are ar- 

 ranged in a characteristic rosette. The ten- 

 der young leaves below the top are cut off 

 and eaten, and the plant grows up to a height 

 of two or three feet, forming new rosettes 

 above while being robbed of its leaves below. 

 Collards are to the South what kale is to the 

 North. 



There are two varieties — the European and 

 the Georgian. The European is called 

 rosette colewort, green rosette colewort, or 

 simply collard, and, although capable of form- 

 ing a head, it is generallv cut for greens. 

 Unlike the Georgia collard, it , grows only 

 eight or ten inches high. The leaves are 

 crimped, rounded, and deeply hollowed or 

 spoon-shaped. If sown in early spring the 

 crop is ready in August, and if left later the 

 plants make heads, but there is not much 

 point in doing this, as cabbages make bet- 

 ter heads. Consequently, the thing to do in 

 Europe is to sow the seeds in early summer, 

 in order to have greens in late autumn, when 

 greens are scarce. 



It would be interesting to know when and 

 where the Georgia collard originated, who 

 developed it, and how. As far south as the 

 orange belt it is customary to sow seeds in 

 February or March, so that the crop will be 



ready before drought sets in. In the middle 

 South, where collards are most popular, they 

 are often started in July or August for autumn 

 greens. When the young plants are trans- 

 planted to their final positions they should 

 stand about three feet apart, in rows three 

 and a half to four feet distant. The cultiva- 

 tion is the same as for cabbage. 



Professor Bailey says that young cabbage 

 plants are sometimes eaten as greens under 

 the name of collards, and that cabbage seeds 

 are sown for this specific purpose. 



It is not likely that collards will become 

 popular in the North, as kale is common and 

 cheap and better adapted to a cold climate. 



H. R. C. 



The Cultivation of Collards 



THE collard, to the rank and file of 

 Georgia Crackers, is what the potato 

 is to the Irishman, and a dish of collard 

 greens is a sine qua non of the dinner of the 

 farm laborer, black or white. The collard : - 

 is an accommodating vegetable, and will 

 grow and thrive under conditions which 

 would cause any self-respecting cabbage to 

 hang its head and wither of disgust. In the 

 gardens it is planted in the early spring, and 

 in a little while the first greens may be had 

 by thinning in the rows. Then begins the 

 process known as "cropping" — i. e., the 

 gathering of the under leaves, and from then 

 on indefinitely "cropped greens" are a daily 

 food. The more the collard is cropped the 

 taller grows its stem, and it is nothing unusual 

 to see straggling rows of stems some four feet 

 high, crowned at the top with a rosette of 

 dark-green leaves, and with brave little 

 sprouts putting out up its entire length where 

 the leaves have been taken off for cooking. 

 They live all through the summer, grow 

 delightfully tender and juicy under Jack 

 Frost's attentions, and then in February go 

 to seed along with those which have been 

 sown in the fall for the special purpose of 

 making seed for sale to the dealers. 



As a side crop collard seed is profitable, 

 though, of course, the market for the output 

 is limited. The preparation of the soil for 

 collards does not conflict with any other 

 plantation work. The five-acre field which 

 the picture shows in bloom was sown in oats 

 in February of 1903 and made a good crop 



which was cut in May. The ground was 

 then broken, broadcasted, and sown thickly 

 in peas in three-foot drills. The pea-vines 

 were cut about the middle of September and 

 gave a fine yield of hay. The field was then 

 broadcasted again, laid off in four-foot rows, 

 heavily fertilized, and then set with the collard 

 plants which had been grown from seed 

 planted in a garden spot some six weeks 

 before, the time from the cutting of the pea- 

 vines to the transplanting of the collards 

 being only about six weeks. Their cultiva- 

 tions consisted of two plowings at intervals 

 through the fall and winter, and the seed will 

 be ready for gathering by the latter part of 

 May, when cotton will then be planted after 

 them, thus making four crops in less than 

 two years on one plot of land. 



The first Georgia -grown collard seed, some 

 thirty years: ago, sold to northern dealers 

 for fifty icents a pound. This, when from 

 two • to' five hundred pounds were gathered 

 . from an acre of ground, was a brilliant invest- 

 " ment from that astute man — a transplanted 

 Yankee — who inaugurated the industry. 

 There are a great many now who grow the 

 seed, and the price ranges about twenty 

 cents, but there is a good profit even in that. 

 Cairo, Ga. Mrs. Henry Wight. 



The Southern Gardener's 

 Reminder 



PLANT raspberries, strawberries, black- 

 berries, pears, and apples 



Plant sweet peas — the earlier they can 

 start the better they will be. 



Vegetables which may be planted in the 

 latitude of Richmond. Sow in hotbeds: 

 cabbage, cauliflower, beets, lettuce, onions, 

 radishes, egg-plant, peppers, and tomatoes. 



In open ground, last of month, beets, car- 

 rots, celery, kale, parsley, radishes, onion 

 sets, horse-radishes, and hardy lettuce plants. 



Latitude of Atlanta. Sow in hotbeds: 

 egg-plants and peppers. 



In coldframes: cabbage, broccoli, cauli- 

 flower, endive, Kohlrabi, lettuce, celery, pars- 

 ley, and cress. ■ •. 



Outdoors: early potatoes, early English 

 peas, carrots, beets, leeks, mustard, early 

 radishes, and turnips. Set out cabbage 

 plants started in November. 



A mammy " crappin' greens." Collards in flower 



Gathering collard seeds 



