CABBAGE 



93 



kind of soil. I think it can be taken down as a rule that the early 

 cabbage will do much better on a sandy loam for quick results than 

 on a heavy soil. The former is a little warmer in the spring, retains 

 quite a little moisture, is benefitted greatly by manure, and in it 

 fertilizers with moisture act very quickly. 



For the midseason crop, a soil a trifle heavy will give best results. 

 Sandy soils have a tendency to dry out too much. 



For the late crop we need a soil even heavier. The general ten- 

 dency is to put late cabbage on soil approaching clay or muck. 

 Both have power to retain great quantities of moisture, and they 

 are relatively cool soils and give conditions for the best growth of 

 late cabbage. 



Incidentally, in remarking on muck soils — I know from my own 

 experience that a very excellent strain of cabbage can be grown on 

 this class of soil. It is one of the crops that can be produced in the 

 muck sections if you desire. The great drawback is that the cabbage 

 heads are not tight enough for late storage. Sell by the fifteenth 

 of January for best results. On the clay soils and on soils which 

 produce slower growth, cabbage heads are tighter and will store 

 longer. 



FERTILIZERS 



The question of fertilizer is often brought up. You yAW find in 

 the majority of cases stable manure is the fertilizer advised more 

 than any other. In all lines of vegetable growing, if men will stick 

 to that idea, they will win out more times than if they depend on 

 artificial fertilizer. If you have a soil supplied with a small quantity 

 of manure, you can give more food elements by adding artificial 

 fertilizer to supplement the small amount of stable manure. If 

 you have ten tons, you may supplement this with an application of 

 a thousand pounds to the acre of a fertilizer which is known as a 

 complete fertilizer. Such a fertilizer of high grade analyzes four per 

 cent nitrogen, eight per cent phosphoric acid, and ten per cent 

 potash. That is not the exact proportions I use. I use high grade 

 fertilizer giving three and six-tenths per cent nitrogen, nine and a 

 fraction of phosphoric acid, and eleven and a fraction of potash. 

 Why is this amount applied .^^ What does the normal crop of cab- 

 bage take from the soil? If you fertilize for what crops take from 

 the soil, you will be out of proportion. A crop of eight thousand 

 heads, fourteen tons, would take from the soil twenty-three pounds. 



