VEGETABLES — DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 195 



For the middle crop to last through the summer, the 

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

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

 plants should be set about sixteen to eighteen inches 

 apart. The varieties are the Large York, Battersea, and 

 Early Dutch. These will not head unless the ground be 

 rich, rather moist, and, above all, diligently worked. 



The late crop, Red Dutch, Savoys, Flat Dutch, etc., sow 

 about the first of April. It is sown the 1st of May near 

 New York, but, sown at that season in the South, it is 

 not certain to come up. If seed of any of the cabbage 

 tribe be sown after the weather grows warm, it must be 

 watered in the drill, or covered with rich, fresh earth, 

 which must be pressed upon it by walking on a board, 

 and it must be shaded by a covering of boards or pine 

 brush during the day, removing it at night, until the 

 plants get a little established. If the weather is warm 

 and wet, the covering may be dispensed with. They 

 should not be transplanted until July or August. Let the 

 ground be well spaded, and thoroughly manured. They 

 must be set in the ground up to the first leaf, no matter 

 how long the stem may be, or they will not head. They 

 also require a rich soil, but not from fresh manure. The 

 manure for the cabbage crop should be thoroughly de- 

 composed, or the plants will be covered with aphides or 

 cabbage lice. The best way is to throw the ground into 

 ridges from two to two and a half feet apart, making the 

 trenches between more or less deep, according to the 

 length of the stems ; wet the roots thoroughly, and 

 transplant in moist weather, doing it carefully with 

 a trowel, and when the ground gets dry, draw the earth 

 level, which should just reach up to the lower leaves, not 

 alt at once, but gradually. If you have not late plants, 

 sow Early and Large Yorks, or Winnigstadts, in July here, 

 or June northward, and good heads of a smaller size can 

 be produced. 



