12 
one being the cutting house, and the others 
containing the vats in which the succulent 
leaf shred8 are transformed into kraut. 
During the kraut season, the vicinity of 
the cutting house presents a lively scene. 
Wagons loaded with cabbage, ranged two 
abreast, extend for blocks from the cutting 
house toward the fields. At six o’clock in 
the morning all is activity. The six win¬ 
dows of the cutting house are thrown open, 
and the teamsters with their assistants be¬ 
gin the work of unloading. Within, all is 
full of life. The inspectors seize the cab¬ 
bage as it flies into the ports, and if un¬ 
sound, it is passed back to the wagons. If 
good, the head is tossed 'to one of a half- 
hundred women, who, with a swift move¬ 
ment of a sharp knife, cuts off the outer 
leaves and dresses it ready for the cutters. 
The cutting machine is the only one of the 
kind ever made; it is run by a twenty-five- 
horse-power engine, and requires four feed¬ 
ers to keep it busy. It cuts with ease 160 
tons of cabbage per day, and the shreds are 
as fine and long as could be desired. The 
cabbage as it is cut falls through a hopper— 
automatic dumping in its action—into a 
large hand-cart, which, when filled, is 
wheeled to the vat houses. The smaller of 
the vat houses contain ten tanks or vats of 
350 barrels’ capacity, and the larger 
twenty-eight. Since these tanks can be 
filled five times in a season'their capacity 
is almost unlimited. About 60,000 barrels 
are cured every season. These vats are 
huge vessels of sixteen feet in diameter and 
eight feet high. As fast as the cabbage is 
cut, and after being properly prepared, it 
is dumped into one of these vats and cov¬ 
ered with the prescribed amount of fine im¬ 
ported salt. When the kraut has sufficient¬ 
ly covered the bottom of the vat, to the 
depth of two or three feet, a number of 
men, fitted for the task by reason of their 
Falstaffian proportions, and with their feet 
clad in rubber boots, made especially for 
the purpose and never put to any other use, 
begin the labor of packing the kraut. The 
64 per cent, of water in the cabbage soon 
begins to assert itself, and as the fine fibers 
are pressed down—not pounded, as in the 
old Style pA>cess-—the brine begins to form 
and rise above the solid mass. When the 
vat is filled the solid contents are held down 
by heavy weights. The process of fer¬ 
mentation is the same in making kraut as 
in making wine, only the former is more 
rapid. It takes from two to six or seven 
weeks to make kraut. It is then taken out 
of the vats aud placed in different sized 
packages, according to the market it is to 
be sent to. For instance, the people of Bal¬ 
timore will not eat kraut out of any other 
vessel than a whiskey barrel, or more po¬ 
litely speaking, a vessel of the capacity of 
a whiskey barrel. There is another feature 
about the Baltimore market. Only a few 
years ago they would eat nothing in the 
shape of kraut but the imported article; 
now three-fourths of all they use comes 
from Chicago. St. Louis must have her 
kraut put up in 18 and 36-gallon casks; 
Cincinnati and Louisville agree with St. 
Louis in this respect; Eastern cities take 
theirs in whiskey barrels, two sizes, 42 and 
50 gallons; Chicago prefers 15 and 30-gal¬ 
lon packages, and New Orleans is the most 
particular of all, requiring 18, 86 and 45- 
gallon casks. 
Visitors to the Illinois State Fair last fall 
will probably remember the mammoth 
head of cabbage exhibited there. After 
being divested of all loose leaves it weighed 
thirty pounds and measured nearly two 
feet in diameter .—Chicago Daily. 
[Remarks. The selection of seeds for 
such a crop as shown above is of the great¬ 
est importance to W. M. Johnson & Co., 
for, should they depend upon something 
which might fail in producing heads, the 
loss to them would be incalculable. The 
following extract from a letter written by 
them, Aug. 24, 1885, on the subject of Till- 
inghast s Puget Sound Cabbage Seeds, may 
be a fitting addition to the above report. 
They write: “The Cabbage from the Fot- 
tler’s seed bought of you last February, has 
made large heads with us this season. But 
we have had endless rains since the cab¬ 
bage began heading, and it has bursted 
more than usual. We think, in an ordina¬ 
ry season,, it will do well with us if you 
keep your seed up to the same standard. 
Let us know what you will furnish us 20 to 
25 lbs. of same quality of. seed next Jan¬ 
uary, for we want the best and no other. 
Yours truly, W. M. Johnson & Co.”] 
