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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



broader, and usually not so bluish in tint ; the stem also is shorter 

 in proportion. This is an excellent early kind, very productive, and 

 of good quality. The only fault, perhaps, which it has is that it 

 takes up rather too much ground for the size of the head, in con- 

 sequence of the large outside leaves spreading so much in the 

 horizontal direction. 



Sugar-loaf Cabbage. — Head very long like a reversed sugar- 

 loaf in shape, regularly oblong, and at least twice as long as broad, 

 very like a Cos Lettuce in form, whence its French name of Chou 

 Chicon ; leaves pale or light green on the upper surface and whitish 

 green underneath, long spoon-shape, and covering each other in a 

 remarkable manner with their hood-shaped tops to form the head ; 

 outer leaves erect, like those of a Cos Lettuce ; stem comparatively 

 short, being not more than a third or half the length of the head. 

 This variety is very distinct and productive, and is almost as early 



as the preceding kind. Like the two foregoing kinds, it answers as 

 well for sowing in autumn as in spring, and, growing tall and 

 slender, it does not occupy much ground relatively to the size of 

 its head. It is also slow in running to seed — a good quality for 

 which it deserves to be specially mentioned. It is somewhat 

 singular that, although a very old variety and well known in 

 every country in Europe, it does not appear to be extensively 

 grown anywhere. 



Early Ox-heart Cabbage. — The shape of the head of this 

 variety is well expressed by its name, and is that of a short, thick- 

 set, blunt-pointed cone, the length of which does not exceed the 

 breadth by more than one-fourth or one-fifth. The outer leaves 

 are broad and nearly round, and less glaucous than those of the 

 York Cabbages ; those which form the head are rather wrapped 

 round each other than hood-shaped. The stem is rather short, 

 being shorter than the head, which begins to form very early, and 



