176 COMMON CABBAGE. 
stance is so compact as sometimes to break the teeth 
of sheep which feed upon them. 
189. The COMMON CABBAGE (Brassica oleracea) is 
a well-known plant, the original stock of which grozvs on cliffs 
by tfie sea-side, in Kent, Cornwall, Yorkshire, and Wales. 
This wild plant is likewise the original of the various kinds 
o/* colewort, borecole, cauliflower, and brocoli. 
The effects of cultivation on the cabbage are very 
remarkable. In the wild plants the leaves are extended : 
but in the common garden cabbage they are set so 
close together as to lie upon each other, almost like the 
scales of a bulb, and, increasing in compactness as they 
increase in size : those in the interior being excluded 
from the effects of the light, do not assume a green, but 
are of yellow colour. 
Other plants of this species form their stalks into a 
head, as the cauliflower and brocoli ; and others grow, 
in a natural way, without forming either their leaves or 
stalks into heads, as the coleworts, or Dorsetshire kale, 
tli&borcoles, turnip-rooted cabbage, and others. 
In some parts of England, cabbages of different kinds 
are much cultivated as food for cattle, and they succeed 
well in rich and finely prepared land. The seed is 
sown in February or March. In April or May the 
young plants are taken out, and set in rows, at a little 
distance from each other ; and, in the ensuing autumn 
and winter, the cabbages afford a valuable stock of 
food. 
All the kinds of cabbage are useful for domestic pur- 
poses ; and some of them afford a peculiarly sweet and 
delicate food. An agreeable pickle is made of them, 
and the Germans, and people of other northern coun- 
tries of the Continent, prepare from them a favourite 
food called sour-crout. These plants were known to, 
and much used by, the ancient Greeks and Romans. 
Cabbages are biennial plants, or are sown one year, 
produce seed in the ensuing year, and then die. 
