CABBAGE. 



59 



All of these, with the turnip-rooted cabbage and the Brus- 

 sels sprouts, claim a common origin from the single species 

 of brassica above mentioned. Cabbage of some sort, 

 White, in his History of Selborne, informs us, must have 

 been knov/n to the Saxons ; for they named the month of 

 February Sprout kale. Being a favourite with the Ro- 

 mans, it is probable that the Italian cabbage would be in- 

 troduced at an early period into South Britain. To the 

 inhabitants of the north of Scotland, cabbages were first 

 made known by the soldiers of the enterprising Cromwell, 

 when quartered at Inverness.— ^^^i??. Ency, art. Horticul- 

 ture. 



CABBAGE. — Brassica oleracea capitata. — Among the 

 varieties of the cabbage, which have been introduced into 

 this country, the following are enumerated in Mr. RusselPs 

 Catalogue : 



Early vSalisbury dwarf, 



Early York, 



Early Dutch, 



Early SLig-ar!oaf, 



Early London Battersea, 



Large Bergen, or great American, 



Early einperor, 



Early Welling-ton, 



Russian, 



Larg-e late drumhead, 

 Laie imperial. 



Late sugarloaf, 

 Large green glazed, 

 Tree, or thousand-headed. 

 Large Scotch, /or calile, 

 Green globe Savoy, 

 Red Dutch, for pickling, 

 Large cape Savoy, 



Yellow Savoy, [ground) 

 Turnip-rooted, or Arabian, (above 

 Turnip-rooted, (below ground) 

 Chou de Milan. 



Soil and situation. — Every variety of cabbage grows best 

 in a strong, rich, substantial soil, inclining rather to clay 

 than sand ; but w^ll grow in any soil, if it be well worked, 

 and abundantly manured with well rotted dung. But, ac- 

 cording to Loudon, " The soil for seedlings should be light, 

 and, excepting for early sowings, not rich. Where market 

 gardeners raise great quantities of seedling cabbages to 

 stand the winter, and to be sold for transplanting in the 

 spring, they choose, in general, the poorest and stifFest land 

 they have got, more especially in Scotland, where large 

 autumnal sowings, of winter drumhead and round Scotch, 

 are annually made, and where the stiffness of the soil gives 

 a peculiar firmness of texture and hardiness of constitution 

 to the plants, and prevents their being thrown out of the 

 soil during the thaws w^hich succeed a frosty winter 

 Transplanted cabbages require a rich mould, rather claye} 

 than sandy ; and, as Neill and Nicol obseiTe, it can scarcely 



