CABBAGE. 



145 



3oii. — The best soil for cabbage is a rich alluvial or prairie 

 loam, moist, yet well drained and in fine condition. While some 

 varieties will mature on poor soil yet they all require the highest 

 cultivation for the best development. This is especially true 

 of early cabbage, which needs mucn richer soil than the late 

 crop. It is a good plan to occasionally change the land used for 

 cabbage; in some eastern sections it is necessary to do this each 

 year on account of the prevalence of the disease called club- 

 root, which is not yet found in this section. 



Manure. — The cabbage is a gross feeder and needs lots of 

 rich manure. Most of our best growers apply manure broadcast, 

 but when there is a necessity of economizing with the manure, 

 it may be applied to better advantage in the hill, providing the 

 land is in good condition. In growing early cabbage it is an ex- 

 cellent plan to apply a handful or so of dry hen manure arouni 

 the hills when the plants are half grown. This should not be put 

 close to the plants, but scattered over a radius of a foot or more 

 from the plants and then cultivated into the soil. 



Early Cabbage. — The methods of cultivating adapted to the 

 growing of early cabbage are quite different from those followed 

 in raising late cabbage, and the subject of cultivation naturally 

 groups itself under these heads. The soil preferred for early 

 cabbage is a light, rich, sandy loam, well drained and sloping to 

 the south, providing it is not too liable to injury from drouth. 

 In milder sections of the country it is customary to sow the 

 seed for early cabbage in September, and winter the plants over 

 in cold frames. This method is impracticable in the extreme 

 Northern states, and the best plan to follow in such sections is 

 that of sowing the seed in greenhouses or hotbeds from the mid- 

 dle to the last of February. As the plants need room they are 

 transplanted so as not to be crowded. If they are kept growing 

 freely they will be large enough to transplant to the open ground 

 by the first of April. 



Setting the Plants. — Cabbage plants will grow at a low tem- 

 perature, and it is a great advantage to plant them out early 

 in the spring, although the weather may be damp and cold. At 

 this season of the year they may not show any great increase 

 in leaf surface, but they form roots rapidly, and these are a great 



