330 The Principles of Vegetable -Gardening 



crop is to stand, but this is unwise, for the young 

 plants cannot receive proper care and the bugs get them. 

 See that the young plants are stocky. It is customary 

 to set the plants in the ground up to the first true leaves, 

 and gardeners think that such setting gives better heads, 

 but this belief was not verified in three years^ tests at 

 Cornell (summary in Bull. 37). It is important that the 

 young plants make continuous growth, for if stunted 

 they do not give as good crops. The seeds germinate 

 quickly. Fig. 99. 



Make the land rich and keep the cultivator mov- 

 ing. Use every means to save the soil moisture. If 

 the nearly mature heads cease growing and are then 

 started into growth again by means of tillage or rains, 

 they are likely to crack. 



In storing cabbages, it is impc:*;;! ive that they are not 

 infested with the black-rot fungus. Keep the water from 

 the middle of the head, and then keep the heads as cool 

 as possible, without actually freezing hard, and always 

 prevent drying out. 



The treatment of aU cole crops may be compared to that of 

 cabbage. The story of growing a crop of cabbages is weU told 

 in the following sketch by the late J. M. Smith, Green Bay, 

 Wisconsin, who was one of the most expert market- gardeners of his 

 region. The article was written for the author some time ago, and 

 has never been published. "The longer I live," wrote Mr. Smith at 

 the time, then in the midst of a serious drought, "the more firmly 

 am I convinced that plenty of manure and then the most com- 

 plete system of cultivation make an almost complete protection 

 against droughts of an ordinary character." Mr. Smith's article 

 now follows : 



Importance of the Crop. — There is probably no article in the 

 entire vegetable list of which the consumption has increased so 



