49 
HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE CABBAGE AS 
A FIELD CROP. 
There arc few plants which exhibit so great a tendency to vary in form through cultivation as those of the 
genus Bmssica. Take, for example, the following estimable culinary vegetables — Scotch Kale or Curled (ireens, 
Colewort, Savoy, Kohl Rabi, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, &c. — and observe the variety in form and 
quality, or contrast the solid-headed Drumhead with the Tree Cabbage of Jersey, the latter attaining a height 
of six to ten feet. 
The Cabbage is especially useful in autumn before Turnips come in, and again in spring when Turnips 
are all consumed. Stock of all kinds thrive well upon them. The crop will do well on almost any soil, the 
heaviest returns of Cabbage acreages being obtained from the stronger loams and alluvial deposits. 
Where Cabbages are grown on a large scale, they may be drilled and thinned out the same as lurnips. 
On a small scale, where the work can be properly superintended, or on very stiff land, where it has not been 
possible to get a sufficiently good tilth, transplanting should be adopted. 
The plants are often carelessly pulled from the seed-bed, and thus receive a check which is aggravated at 
planting time by thrusting them into a hole without any regard to the disposition and re<iuirements of the 
delicate rootlets. Again, moist weather is essential to successful planting, and, while waiting for this, the 
season often becomes too far advanced for a full crop. The additional labour which transplanting also involves 
must not be overlooked. 
The first seed-bed may be made in February, and for this purpose the soil need not be very deep, but 
should be in good eondition and fine tilth. About a pound of seed will be required for every five or six 
perches, which should be well raked in and rolled. A good dressing of soot will be found useful in keeping 
off slugs. 
Another seed-bed may be made, and the main crop drilled in March, at the rate of four to six pounds per 
acre. Cabbage seed should .also be sown in July and August, by which means a good succession will be 
secured. To have Cabbages from September to December, Carters Early Drunihe.ad and Cartels Improved 
Oxheart should be drilled during March, April, and May, August and September, there will be a supply from 
November to January, and from late spring to the summer. 
The land for Cabbages should be well and deeply prepared by autumn cultivation. In spring it should 
be ridged, twenty or thirty loads of farm yard manure spread, four to si.x cwt. of Special Cabbage Manure sown 
over it, and the ridges split back, the crop being drilled or planted on the ridges. Or the farm yard manure 
may be covered by the ridges, and the artificial manure mixed with an equal bulk of peat ash and drilled with 
the seed. Another good plan is to ridge the land in autumn, spread the dung in the furrows, split back the 
ridges, and let it lie thus for the winter. In the spring, horse-hoe and harrow the ridges and drill them up 
afresh, the distance between the ridges being from twenty inches to three feet, according to the fertility of the 
soil and the variety. 
d'here is no doubt that the Cabbage should be more extensively grown as a farm crop than has hitherto 
been the case. The reasons for its comparatively limited cultivation probably lie in the fact that it has been 
described as expensive to grow and exhausting to the land. But where the matter has been intelligently 
investigated, it has been found that, value for value, the Cabb.age is not more exhausting than the Turnip, which 
is so widely grown. Surely, then, the Cabbage is the kind ot plant the farmer should desire. Indeed, the 
circumstance that farmers are growing the crop more extensively is sufficiently proved by the fact that the extent 
of Cabbage in C.re.at Britain advanced from 60,341 acres in 1901 to 65,179 acres in 1911. 
RaYNES PaUK, lyONDON, S.W. — igiz. 
