168 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



garden thus treated last November, I have not found a 

 cutworm this year (1852). If this has been done you 

 may plant your Early Yorks at a distance of twelve inches 

 each way. If you have not already sown your cabbage 

 plat with salt, there is another plan to keep off the cut- 

 worm equally successful. Throw your ground into ridges 

 and trenches sixteen inches apart ; let these trenches be 

 at least six inches deep. In the bottom of these trans- 

 plant your cabbages, one foot apart. Some use a dibble, 

 but a trowel is much better, as it does not leave the soil 

 hard. Prepare your ground in dry weather, but choose a 

 moist day for transplanting. It is a good plan to wet the 

 roots before planting out. When they get rooted stir the 

 soil gently about them, but do not fill up the trenches 

 until the plants are so large that there is no danger of the 

 worm. This method of protecting cabbages was pointed 

 out to me by a negro gardener several years since, and 

 I have tried it repeatedly. The worm will not go down 

 into the trenches to destroy the plants. 



When the plants get strong the ground should be deeply 

 and repeatedly hoed. Do this while the dew is on, and 

 retain its ammonia in the soil. The cabbage is partial to 

 moisture, so hoe it frequently, and when you go out in the 

 morning you will find the plat moist with dew, while the 

 unstirred soil around is dry as ever. The only secret in 

 raising early cabbage is, set your plants in rich ground 

 and stir the soil. On poor ground (and even on rich if half 

 tended) they will run into collards. Stir the soil and less 

 manure is required. 



For the middle crop to last through the summer, the 

 seed can be sown as above, or any time until the middle 

 of March. The cultivation is the same, except that the 

 plants should be set about sixteen to eighteen inches apart. 



