CABBAGE. 



149 



,reezing is very injurious; they are seldom injured by frost un- 

 less the stump is frozen solid. If there is danger of severe freez- 

 ing before the crop can be marketed or stored, it is a good plan 

 to pull the plants and put them into piles, v/ith the stumps in- 

 side, and cover the whole Avith straw litter. Piled and covered 

 this way, they may be left in the field until severe freezing 

 weather and will generally be safe in such a condition in this 

 section until the first of December. At harvesting there may be 

 some heads that are quite too loose for marketing, and such cab- 

 bage will often improve very much if stored as recommended for 

 seed cabbage. 



Storing Cabbage. — In order to have cabbage keep well fa: 

 into the winter, they must not be headed very solid when gath- 



Figure 65.— Cabbage pitted for winter. 



ered buc should be a trifle soft, but there is auite a difference 

 in the keeping qualities of the different varieties. If late varie- 

 ties are sown too early, they will not keep well and if early va 

 rieties are sown late so as to be in good keeping condition when 

 harvested they often keep very well. In order to store cabbage 

 successfully, they must be kept cold and moist but never allowed 

 to get warm or wet. Providing the cabbage is in good condition 

 for storing it will generally keep until spring if the heads are 

 set together with the roots up, in a trench and covered with 

 from six inches to a foot of soil and mulch enough to prevent 

 hard freezing. If they are frozen while buried and thawed out 

 in the ground they are seldom seriouslv injured. In this sec- 

 tion, however, a better plan is to keep them in a cold, damp cel- 

 lar, stored in bins about four feet wide so as to allow a circula- 

 tion of air through them. For commercial purposes, it is a good 



