72 



PRACTICE OF GARDEIaIIsG. 



sowing must not be made much sooner than the lOth of 

 August, or they will be too forward, nor much later thaa 

 the 25th of the same month, or they will not be forward 

 enough. For young greens in summer, and full heads in 

 autumn and winter, sow in a warm border in September, 

 and at short successive intervals from February till the 

 end of June. 



The sorts, like the sowing, will depend on the time the 

 crop is wanted ; and hence it is im^Dortant to get genuine 

 seed. The quickest growing are the early dwarf, whicli 

 comes first, the early sea-green, and the early York, which 

 are of course best for spring sowing, and also for the 

 first August sowing. The sugar-loaf, Battersea, and 

 Wellington, are larger, and come a week or two later to 

 succeed the earlier. For young greens or collards, the 

 imperial and London coUard are the best, or rather the 

 Vanack, which, by successive sowings, is always in season, 

 and excellent for greens, white hearts, and sprouts. The 

 drum-heads, flat Dutch, and round Scotch, are large, 

 coarse, and not so suitable for gardens as for field culture. 



The sugar-loaf is one of the mildest and best of 

 cabbages, and grows into a compact close head without 

 ever getting very hard. It has a sweetish agreeable 

 flavour, and is entirely destitute of the rankness which 

 often renders cabbages indigestible for weak stomachs. 



For a seed-bed four feet wide, and ten feet long, one 

 ounce of early York cabbage seed will be enough. 



Sow thinly broadcast in a finely dug and raked bed, or 

 rather in drills six or eight inches apart, which may be 

 beaten after sowing with the spade, or trodden firmly 

 down, covering the seed with about one inch depth of 

 earth. 



The seed-leaves are apt to be devoured by the same 

 small beetle which infests seedling turnips ; though this 

 is only the case with such as are sown between May and 

 August, as has before been observed with respect to 

 turnips. Slugs are also very destructive, and a quantity 

 of quicklime should be scattered over the ground early iu 

 the morning. If this does not effectually destroy them, 

 they must be picked off by the hand very early in the 

 morning, and plunged into a garden-pot filled with quick- 



