May 3, 1883.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 357 
gentry, are “schools ” where forestry is practically taught, and 
in which any intelligent student may make himself competent, 
as many have hitherto done, in the work in question. Yet 
unquestionably technical knowledge is very desirable, and it 
would be Avell if more attention were given to the subject of 
imparting instruction in elementary schools on this and other 
cognate matters relating to the cultivation of the soil. 
CABBAGE-GROWING AND CABBAGE-CUTTING. 
“Well! that’s zummat, I have been cutting Cabbages 
these forty years, and now don’t know how to cut ’em to 
please our master!” Something like the above was once over¬ 
heard after a lesson had been given in the art of gathering 
vegetables economically. It was but the natural, harmless, and 
excusable vent for wounded pride and a little pent-up rebellion. 
I certainly learnt a lesson from my labourers in growing 
Cabbages when I first came into this neighbourhood, but 
when it came to cutting them I could see they had something 
to learn. The lesson in growing was merely to sow earlier 
than I had been accustomed to do. Early sowing is becoming 
more general now, but a dozen years ago I believe very few 
people outside of this county thought of sowing before August, 
and that is a fortnight too late. St. Swithin’s Day is the 
favourite time here, and in all but exceptional seasons I think 
it is about the best time, but I generally sow a pinch of seed 
a fortnight earlier, and a little more a fortnight later. 
Perhaps it was the want of a good reliable sort, one which 
would not run t,o seed, which so long prevented early sowing, 
and the first marked step towards obtaining this was doubtless 
made by our lamented old friend George Wheeler, who some 
forty years ago sent out “ Wheeler’s Imperial,” and kept it 
true as long as his health would allow him to look after it. 
What was sold as “ Wheeler’s Imperial ” by other nurserymen, 
as far as my experience went, was a different, Cabbage 
altogether, and now 1 do not know where to obtain a true 
stock of it. Happily, however, it is not wanted, as “ Ellam’s 
Early Dwarf ” is an improvement on it, and so far the seed 
appears to have been very carefully saved. My friend and 
neighbour Mr. Iggulden grew a variety the year before last, 
which he considered more desirable than Ellam’s, because while 
the latter was riddled by caterpillars his favourite variety 
escaped, but I confess I should be rather doubtful of a Cabbage 
which was not good enough for caterpillars. 
But to the lesson in cutting. It is the nature of the type 
of Cabbage to which Ellam’s and Wheeler’s belong to yield a 
good second crop after the first is cut. From two to five good 
Cabbages come on the one stalk, and these, if well managed, 
come into use quicker than spring-sown Cabbages do ; in fact, 
if a couple of thousand plants are grown for such an estab¬ 
lishment as I have to supply, by the time the crop has all been 
cut over once some of the second crop is ready for the knife. 
I have seen many a cottager nurse up his Cabbages as tenderly 
as if they were so many babies, have them ready for use at 
Easter, or in a mild winter sometimes early in February, and 
then in cutting he would allow his knife to slip through two 
or three of the leafstalks, and would take two or three more 
with the head than was good for cooking ; and not only this, 
but I have witnessed the remaining leaves cut off the stalk 
purposely a the same time, the operator being under the im¬ 
pression that he was forwarding the production of the future 
crop. Well, I have tried both ways, and the difference between 
starting with a naked stem and one with three or four healthy 
leaves makes a fortnight’s difference in the time of the second 
crop, as well as a difference in quantity and quality. 
The right way is to cut squarely .across the stem between 
two sets of leaves, taking just as much as is fit to cook, and 
treating every leaf left on as the mother of a future Cabbage. 
When the sprouts have grown considerably, and are able to 
take up as much as the roots can supply, then the old leaves 
may be pulled off to advantage, so as to admit light and air. 
It is admitted that in treating most other plants it is not good 
practice to entirely defoliate at once while growth is proceed¬ 
ing vigorously, and of course the same rule holds good with 
even cutting a Cabbage. 
The same waste takes place with regard to winter greens. 
The careless gatherer spoils a leaf or two of each sprout in 
cutting, and the cook always starts with the conclusion that 
there is something to throw away, so there is waste all the 
way from the stump to the pot. — Wm. Taylor. 
FERNS IN BOTTLES. 
A MOST remarkable example of Fern growth was recently 
brought under our notice, and the circumstances are so unusual 
that they are well worth attention. In the garden of Mr. Rayns- 
ford at Kingston-on-Thames for the past twenty years partly 
damaged soda-water bottles have been employed to edge the paths. 
The point of the necks had been broken, and this portion was 
plunged into the soil to the depth of about 6 inches, thus leaviug 
3 or 4 inches of the base of the bottles above the surface. Some 
of these bottles have been in this position for the whole of the 
Fig. 84.—Fern in Soda-water Bottle (two-thirds of natural size). 
timo mentioned above, and others have been placed in at intervals 
to within the past year. 
There is nothing extraordinary in all this. In hundreds of 
other gardens bottles have been similarly employed, but in this 
case the results now to be noticed are very unusual. In the 
majority of the bottles youug Ferns appeared soon after they were 
placed in the grouud, and these have continued growing until in 
some cases they have formed a dense congested mass of vegetation 
completely filling the bottles. The fronds remain green during 
the greater portion of the year and then die, giving place to young 
ones in the succeeding spring ; and as previously stated, some 
have continued thus growing for many years past practically 
without any exposure to air, as the amount that could pass through 
the soil up the neck of the bottle w r ould be extremely small. 
Several different varieties of Ferns are observable, chiefly forms 
of Athyrium Filix-foemina, with the Oak Fern and a few others ; 
and it is strange that the only Fern in the garden is Scolopen- 
drium vulgare, of which there are no examples in the bottles. 
The soil, too, has not been renewed since the garden was first 
formed ; therefore the only way in which the spores can have 
been conveyed to the garden is by the wind. 
The bottle represented in the woodcut (fig. 84) is one of those 
