64 



CABBAGE. 



is much surer of success, if it happens to be a time of 

 drought. They will need no more hoeing than is necessa- 

 ry to keep down the weeds. In this way, I have raised 

 cabbages of the largest size, in a green sw^ard potato field, 

 without more hoeing than was necessary for the potatoes." 



Cabbage plants are liable to be attacked, by a grub or black 

 worm, in the night, which eats off the stalks, just above 

 ground, and buries itself in the ground as soon as the sun 

 rises. Dr. Deane observed, that a little circle of lime or rock- 

 weed round the plant, will preserve it, and recommends dig- 

 ging for the w^orm near the place which shows the marks of 

 its ravages, and destroying it. Scalding the hills with boiling 

 water, and then enclosing them with boards, barks, or shin- 

 gles, would be an effectual, but troublesome mode, of 

 guarding against worms. The Economical Journal of France 

 gives the following method, which, it states, is infallible, to 

 guard not only against caterpillars, but all other insects 

 which infest cabbages or other vegetables : — Sow with 

 hemp all the boi lers cf the ground where the cabbage is 

 planted ; and, allhough the neighbourhood be infested with 

 caterpillars, the place enclosed with hemp will be perfect- 

 ly free, and not one of the vermin v/ill approach it. Wa- 

 tering the plants with water which had been poured boiling 

 hot on elder leaves, or walnut leaves, and suffered to stand 

 till cool, has been recommended. The following mixture 

 is also said to be a preservative against all kinds of insects : — 

 Take a pound and three quarters of soap, the same quanti- 

 ty of flowers of sulphur, two pounds of puff balls, and fif- 

 teen gallons of water. When the whole has been well 

 mixed, by the aid of a gentle heat, sprinkle the insects 

 with the liquor, and it will instantly kill them. To get rid 

 of the aphides or cabbage lice, watering the plants with 

 soap-suds, or a solution of salt in water, (not too strong, 

 lest it kill the plants,) is said to be efficient. 



Use, — The culinary uses of the cabbage are too well 

 known to need description or recapitulation. If they grow 

 near a yard where cattle are kept, the under leaves, when 

 they begin to decay, may be stripped off and given them. 



sown too thick j care should^ therefore, be taken, to have them properly thinned 

 out, whenever they come up in too thick a manner. Probably, if the plants 

 were sown in the hills in which they are intended to grow for a crop, and thin- 

 ned out in due season, they would grow as straight aiKi i^out^ os if they bad 

 been several times tranRplginte«i>" 



