LATE CABBAGE 



101 



will be about as solid as a head of lettuce and weigh just 

 about as much. One buyer called them cushions — a very fit- 

 ting name. 



Cabbage Seed. 



Most of our seed comes from Long Island, New Jersey, 

 Michigan, Oregon, and some is imported. Many of us have 

 sad recollections of that year when our cabbage proved to be 

 early ones or red ones when we ordered Danish. A good 

 share of the seed is raised on a contract, or, in other words, 

 large seedsmen hire men to grow a certain num^ber of pounds 

 for them. Some tomato seed growers have been known to 

 raise a kind of tomatoes that produces a great quantity of 

 seed, when the quality and productiveness of the tomatoes 

 are very poor. Possibly this is the case with some cabbage 

 seed w^e get. At best, cabbage seed growing seems to be a 

 job that has been left for some hired man to attend to. No 

 wonder we get mixed strains when one neighbor raises early 

 seed, another raises late ones, the two being so near together 

 that cross-fertilization takes place. A great many seed 

 growers raise their cabbage plants only up to a stage where 

 they first commence to head, then carry them over winter to 

 produce seed the next spring. In this way, there is very 

 little chance for head selection. So we must take seed from 

 good, bad, and indifferent stock when buying commercially. 



It is much easier to carry these soft heads over Vv'inter in 

 a good growing condition than it is a mature head. My 

 brother and I have been working on the proposition of rais- 

 ing seed by the mature head method for the past five years. 

 We have obtained a full crop of seed only once in that time, 

 but what few seed we did get each year have not failed to 

 produce at least twenty tons per acre, the average being about 

 twenty-five, last season between twenty-one and twenty-two. 



We have kept the same strain each year and selected from 

 it, alwaj^s bearing in mind its eating and keeping qualities, 

 as well as its productiveness. Its eating qualities are just as 

 good as our best domestic varieties. We have tested one 

 strain side by side w^ith strains from four different sources, 

 also some direct from the old country. It has not failed to 

 produce at least one pound per head heavier than strains from 



