THE GROWING OF THE VEGETABLE PLANTS 457 



sown directly where the plants are to stand. For early onions, 

 however, the special practice has recently arisen of transplant- 

 ing from seedbeds. 



Brassicaceous group — Cabbage, kale, cauliflower. 



These are cool-weather crops, all of them withstanding con- 

 siderable frost. The cabbages and kales are often started in 

 fall in the middle and southern latitudes, and are harvested 

 before hot weather arrives. 



In the northern states, these plants will all do best when 

 started early in hotbed, frame, or greenhouse, — from the last 

 of February to April — and transplanted to the open ground 

 May first to June first, partly because their season of growth 

 may be long and partly to enable them to escape the heat of 

 midsummer. Still, some persons are successful in growing late 

 cabbage, kale, and cauliflower, by sowing the seeds in hills and in 

 the open ground where the plants are to mature. It is best to 

 transplant the young plantlets twice, first from the seed-bed to 

 boxes, or frames, about the time the second set of true leaves 

 appears, placing the plants 24 inches apart each way, and 

 transplanting again to the open ground in rows 4 to 5 feet 

 apart, with plants 2 to 4 feet apart in the row. If the plants 

 are started under cover, they should be hardened off by ex- 

 posure to light and air during 

 the warmer hours of several 

 days preceding the final trans- 

 planting. 



The most serious enemy of 

 cabbage-like plants is the root- 

 maggot. See discussion of this 

 insect on pp. 187, 201. 



The cabbage-worm (larva of 295. The white butterfly that lays the 

 , , 1 . , 1 ■ , n 1 • eggs for the cabbage-worm. 



the white butterfly shown m 



Fig. 295) can be dispatched with pyrethrum or kerosene 



