724 
Crops for Pickling and Preserving. 
manure them. Wherever ordinary cabbages can be grown, the 
red variety will do equally well, and the culture is practically 
the same. The seed is sown in August, and the plants are best 
transplanted in the autumn, either to a newly turned furrow or 
to a piece of autumn-tilled land. It is advisable to mark out the 
land first by crossing it with a marker-out, or with a drill set at 
the required width, and then crossing again at right angles. 
The plants are inserted where the lines intersect, and horse- 
hoeing can then be effected in both directions. This is a great 
advantage, as the horse-hoe does the best after-tillage, and 
largely relieves the hand-hoe, which should only be required to 
work immediately around the plants. The cabbages should not 
be less than 2 feet 6 inches apart, and if the land is in good 
heart, especially on sewage ground, which is particularly 
favourable to the crop, 3 feet or even more may be allowed, as 
the quality of the cabbages is very much in accordance with the 
size, the larger ones always commanding the higher prices. 
Red cabbages are of two kinds — the Drumhead and the Ox- 
heart. The Oxheart is the more valuable for pickling, as it is 
darker in colour. The yield of cabbages varies very much, 
according to the amount of manure and moisture present, and 
ranges from 10 tons per acre on light, dry soils, to 40 tons on 
rich sewage land. The outer leaves are always stripped before 
the cabbages are sent away ; and a cartload of red cabbages is 
heavier than a similar load of any other root or vegetable crop 
grown on the farm. 
This crop was until recently a very profitable one ; but 
English-grown " picklers" have been almost unsaleable in recent 
years, owing to the heavy importations from Belgium, which not 
only get into the consumers' hands earlier, but can be put on the 
Loudon Market cheaper than is possible by rail, even from a less 
distance than fifty miles out of London. Scores of acres, of late 
years, have never been sold, or even offered for sale, as they 
would not bring home 10s. a ton; in fact, buyers could 
not be found at any price. There is one saving point, which is 
that they are the best of all cabbages for sheep-keep, although a 
prejudice exists on account of the colour. They are also good for 
cows ; but if the outside leaves are allowed to decompose, how- 
ever slightly, the milk is sure to be tainted. So much are they 
esteemed by market-garden farmers, that some grow them 
extensively as sheep-feed, without the slightest expectation of 
selling them for pickling. 
Scarlet Runners and French Beans. — Although not extensively 
grown for pickling purposes, still considerable quantities of 
