468 
Cultivation of Kold-Rahi. 
The botanical name of this plant is Brassica oleracea caulo-rapa. 
There are several varieties of the smaller kind raised in garden 
cultivation, of a variety of shapes and colours ; these are prin- 
cipally for table purposes, and are considered very nice vege- 
tables, cooked like turnips, or cut into slices and fried. They 
make also excellent pickles. They are exposed for sale in the 
German markets much the same as carrots and parsnips are in 
England. 
The two most important varieties for field cultivation are the 
large green, and purple. Both can be had either of the round or 
oblong shape, and it is difficult to say which shape or colour is 
best. We have a predilection for the green, whether oblong or 
round. 
The Kohl-rabi seed is extremely difficult to grow true, 
as it is apt to sport or to be inoculated by bees. It is also 
generally meagre in quantity. The oblong and round varieties 
are not usually kept distinct, and it Avill frequently occur 
tliat plants raised from the seed of perfectly round bulbs will 
grow of the oblong shape. But, whether oblong or round, 
purple or green, we greatly mistake if it be not shortly re- 
garded as the most valuable of our root-crops. We saw it 
grown upwards of thirty years ago by that eminent agriculturist 
the late John Foster, Esq., of Brickhill-house, Bedford, who was 
accustomed to speak of it in the highest terms. After that gentle- 
man left England for the West Indies; whether from its cultiva- 
tion not being much understood, or from the just popularity of 
the Swedish turnip in those days, the cultivation of Kohl-rabi did 
not much increase. It seemed, indeed, quite unnecessary to seek 
for a better root than the Swede. It is now far otherwise : we 
question much if, in the majority of cases, in this and several ad- 
joining counties, Swedish turnips are worth anything like the 
cost of cultivation. Seeing, then, what a miserably precarious 
crop the Swedish turnip had become, about five years ago we 
purchased a little Kohl-rabi seed and sowed it on a seed-bed. 
The land intended for this crop having been cleaned and manured 
in the previous autumn, after a crop of tares had been mown and 
carted off, we gave it one good deep ploughing (using the skim- 
coulter), harrowed and rolled it, and then set the plants 2 ft. 
apart by 1^ ft. The land being dry, and not then knowing the 
hardihood of the })lants, we gave them one watering, which, how- 
ever, we have not since had occasion to do, although wc are not 
sure that, in a very dry season, when water is at hand, Gs. or 'ts. 
per acre would be thrown away when so applied ; as by this 
means the plants get an immediate start, almost without dropping 
a leaf. 
Our first efforts were quite successful : we obtained a beautiful 
