DEVELOPMENT OF THE CABBAGE. 



No vegetable in the entire list so stubbornly re- 

 sists our effort for its improvement as does the cab- 

 bage. Experience and observation lead me to 

 believe that were careless methods adapted in the 

 propagation of this vegetable by seed-growers, it 



Fig. I. Jersey Wakefield. 



would so rapidly degenerate as to soon lose its val- 

 uable characteristics. 



The refuse cabbage left in our fields will survive 

 mild winters, and if allowed to do so, will spring up 

 and bear seed, which, in turn, will grow cabbages. 

 In this way we have noted that the cabbage gains 

 rapidly in hardiness and loses equally as rapidly 

 its heading capacity. There is little doubt that if 

 this manner of production were allowed to continue 

 through a series of years, that the cabbage would 

 soon lose its valuable properties and become little 

 better than a noxious weed. 



Intelligent effort has, in the past few years, made 

 excellent progress in the improvement of the cab- 

 bage, but no one will reach satisfactory results in 

 the direction of its development, without a thorough 

 understanding of the whole subject. Selection must 

 be made with reference to the entire plant, and every 

 minor point must also be considered. 



Selection with reference to the head only, as it is 

 frequently made, while it will undoubtedly produce 

 a strain very reliable in heading, can never reach 

 the best results ; because the head, while it is per- 

 haps the most important feature, is by no means 

 the only one to be taken into consideration. 



In order to arrive at a proper understanding of 

 this subject, let us divide the cabbage family into 

 three classes, having reference only to their season 

 of maturity — the early, intermediate and late. 



In an early sort we require not only earliness, 

 but reliability in heading, close habit of growth, 

 and hardiness. The Jersey Wakefield, to my mind, 

 still combines more valuable characteristics than 

 any other early variety. The development of re- 

 cent years has gone a great way toward eliminating 

 the flat heads which used to be so prevalent in this 

 variety, and in the best strains of to-day the coni- 

 cal type is very well fixed. 



In our selection we will first look at the head. 

 This should be a well-shaped pointed cone, the 

 largest points of circumference being as low down 

 as possible. The point of the head, though de- 

 cided, should not be sharp ; let it gain size from its 

 width rather than from its length. Great care 

 should be taken that the leaves forming the head 

 should lap across and fTvv the point and as far as 

 possible on the other side, for here lies the secret 

 of that solidity which is one of its most valuable 

 features. It should not be too large, for ex- 

 perience proves that extreme size and extreme earli- 

 ness are directly opposed to one another ; what we 

 gain in one direction we shall be likely to lose in 

 the other. 



The leaves should be broad and smooth, with ribs 

 running well down and joining the midrib near the 

 base of the leaf. A most important feature is their 

 thick leathery texture, for here we secure that hardi- 

 ness so important in a cabbage so largely wintered 



l-iG. 2. A Poor Jersey Wakefield. 



over in the gardener's cold frames. This feature 

 should, therefore, be encouraged to the utmost. 



The stalk is short and not very large. This and 

 the root should show no sign of disease. These 



