80 



KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 



[chap. 



of saving cabbage-seed, which is a matter of great importance, 

 because the trueness of the seed is a circumstance on which de- 

 pend the eailiness and goodness of the plant. The cabbage is a 

 biennial. When it makes its loaf in the summer, you cut the loaf 

 off in a sloping cut. The plant will then throw out side-shoots ; 

 but, in a month after cutting the head, the stump should be taken 

 up and laid by the heels, which will check the growing of the 

 sprouts. In the month of November these stumps should be put 

 out into rows where they are to stand for seed. There should be 

 two rows, about eight inches from each other, the stumps in one 

 row being opposite the intervals of the other row ; and then there 

 should be an interval of five feet between the rows, in order to 

 give you a c!ear passage for putting stakes and rods to hold up 

 the seed-branches ; and, also, for the purpose of going freely into 

 the plantation to keep off the birds, many of which are great pur- 

 loiners of cabbage-seed. When the seed-pods begin to turn 

 brown, cut the stems off close to the ground, and place them upon 

 a cloth in the sun. When perfectly dry, thrash out the seed ; 

 put it by, and keep it in a dry place. The ground where the seed 

 is grown should be kept perfectly clean. The stems of the plants 

 should be hilled up in the same manner as directed for a crop of 

 cabbages ; and the whole of the ground in the intervals should be 

 dug in the month of March, an operation that will add greatly to 

 the crop of seed. For a garden, two or three plants are sufficient ; 

 but great care should be taken that they stand not near to any 

 thing of the cabbage or broccoli or cauliflower kind that is in 

 bloom at the same time. 



131 . CALABASH.^ — This is a species of crooked squash, good 

 for nothing as food, but is a very curious thing, having a large and 

 long shell, small in one part and big in the other, and, when the 

 big part is scooped out, becomes a ladle with a long handle to it. 

 A thing very well worth growing for the curiosity, and grown in 

 exactly the same manner as the squash. 



132. CALE or KALE. — By some called Borecole. This is a 

 species of cabbage which is used in winter only. It does not head, 

 or loave, but sends forth a loose open top and numerous side- 

 shoots, particularly after the top is taken off. It is a very hardy 

 plant, resists all frosts ; but it is at the same time but a coarse sort 

 of thing. It is to be sowed in the month of April, the plants 

 treated the same way as those of the cabbage ; the distances at 



