118 
On Green or Fodder Crops. 
December. The use is so great, so exceedingly valuable for autumnal fatting 
of oxen, feeding cows, fatting wethers, feeding hogget lambs, and supporting 
the whole herd of swine, that one may without hazard as^^crt the farmer who 
does not make a provision of them to be negligent m a very material point of 
his business." 
Nothing can be more true than this statement, which is fully 
verified by a considerable amount of sound practical experience 
at the present day. For instance, Derbyshire and Staffordshire 
dairy-farmers find that, when grass falls short in autumn, nothing 
tends to sustain the milk-yielding capabilities of their cows 
more than to be able to supply them with a few cabbages daily. 
They are grown specially to meet this object on some farms in 
the Midlands, and occasionally not only afford a valuable pro- 
vision all through the last three months of the year, but have 
been found to stand perfectly sound in the fields up to the end 
of February. What sheep-breeders and sheep-grazers would do 
without the cabbage seems inexplicable ; especially those who 
are in the habit of preparing prime specimens of their flocks for 
exhibition would be at a loss how to proceed without the aid of 
this valuable plant, and its near relations kohl and kale. The 
Eastern Counties cattle-grazers, without autumn cabbage, would 
be unable to keep their fattening beasts when on short pastures 
in a satisfactory state of progression. Pigs are as fond of 
cabbages as of mangold-wurzel, and where large herds of swine 
are kept, there cannot be a more economical system of manage- 
ment than to be able to feed them partly on cabbages in 
autumn. Professor Buckman, who for many years has grown 
autumn cabbages rather extensively on his farm in Dorset, 
considers that although the weight of crop he can realize is 
not much over twenty-five tons per acre, which is not quite equal 
to that of a good yield of swede turnips, it is of more value to 
him during October, November, and December than any other 
kind of green produce. In some instances much weightier 
bulks of produce are realized by the Drumliead variety being 
grown. For instance, Messrs. Sutton and Sons' "Imperial 
Early Drumhead," which often yields cabbages weighing 30 lbs. 
each, has the reputation of producing from 50 to 60 tons per 
acre. No one need marvel then at the glowing accounts which 
now and then have been given by farmers at their club meetings, 
to the effect that, although cartloads were daily taken away to 
the fattening beasts, the dairy cows, and the pigs, the yields 
continued to be of the "cut and come again " character, while 
the flock in clearing up the remainder in the field enjoyed 
fixture of tenure throughout autumn at least. 
Autumn cabbages are available for consumption when other 
green food is scarce, which is a chief reason for their being 
