122 



THE AMERICAN GARDENER. 



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little ; and here are ihe cabbages always /res^- ami 

 good. — Immense quantities, particularly in woody 

 countries, may be stacked and preserved in this 

 way, at a very trifling expense. In fields the side 

 trenches would be made with the plough; poles, in 

 such a case, are of all sizes, always at hand ; and, 

 small brush wood might do very w^ell instead of 

 straw, j^r-boughs, Zai/reZ-boughs, or ced^ar-boughs, 

 would certainly do better than straw ; and where is 

 the spot in America, which has not one of these 

 three ? — Cabbage Stumps are also to be preserved ; 

 for they are very useful in the spring. You have 

 been cutting cabbages to eat in October and No- 

 vember. You leave the stumns standing, no matter 

 what be the sort. Take them up before the frost 

 sets in ; trim off the long roots, and lay the stumps 

 in the ground, in a sloping direction, row behind 

 row, w^ith their heads four or five inches out of 

 ground. When the frost has just set in in earnest, 

 and not before, cover the stumps all over a foot 

 thick or more, with strawy with corn-stalks, or with 

 ever-green boughs of some sort. As soon as the 

 breaking-up comes, take off the covering, and stir 

 the ground (as soon as dry,) by hoeing amongst the 

 stumps. They should be placed in an early spot ; 

 in one of the warmest places you have ; and they 

 will give you (at New York) an abundance of fine 

 greens towards the end of April, when a handful of 

 wild dock-leaves sells in New York market for six- 

 pence York money, which is rather more than an 

 English three pence. — Lastly, as to the saving of 

 cabbage seed. The cabbage is a biennial. It 

 brings its flower and its seed the second year. To 

 have cabbage seed, therefore, you must preserve 

 the cabbage, head, root and all, throughout the win- 

 ter ; and this must be done, either in a cellar, or 



