AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE HOST -.HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE 3I0ST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.-Na suington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
VOL. XI.] NW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1853. [NUMBER 14. 
m~FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, fa, 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
THE CABBAGE. 
No. II. 
Analysis .—According to M. Spkengel, 100.- 
000 pounds of cabbage contains of fixed in¬ 
gredients, Potash, 1847; Soda, 578; Lime, 
1822 ; Magnesia, 202 ; Alumina, 11; Oxide of 
Iron, 151; Oxide of Magnesia, 40; Silica, 529; 
Sulphuric Acid, 774; Phosphoric Acid, 436; 
Chlorine, 518; total fixed ingredients or Ash, 
6908. 
In the table giving the analyses of twenty 
three grains, grasses, and vegetables, from which 
this is taken, cabbage shows much the largest 
proportion of ash, with the single exception of 
the Swedish turnip. The quantities of potash 
and lime are remarkable, and indicate the kind 
of soils and fertilizers best adapted to the cul¬ 
tivation of this vegetable. The large proportion 
of ash also indicates the necessity of a deep and 
thorough stirring of the soil, so that the roots 
may push into the subsoil for a portion of their 
aliment; the surface soil sometimes becomes 
exhausted of some of these constituents, while 
ample supplies lie in the yellow loam beneath. 
Preparation of Soil and Culture .—In select¬ 
ing a piece of ground for this crop, a spot rich 
in potash and lime should have the preference. 
But any good, strong soil will produce it by the 
addition of suitable fertilizers. To attempt the 
crop in a thin, poor soil, and with but little ma¬ 
nure, is time and labor thrown away. In har¬ 
vest there will be only stumps and leaves, with 
here and there a half-grown head. But with 
good soil and thorough tillage, no crop is more 
sure; the heads will be about as numerous as 
the stumps. 
In our experience we have/ound that trench¬ 
ing, in the garden culture of this crop, is indis¬ 
pensable to maximum crops. In field culture 
subsoil plowing would answer a similar purpose. 
Land, trenched or subsoiled, will bear better 
crops with thirty cords of manure to the acre, 
than with forty cords without this deep culture. 
And in carrying on these operations, some care 
must be taken not to bring up to the surface 
too much of the yellow loam. In a thin soil 
this would greatly injure the crop, if it did not 
ruin it. One inch of the subsoil for six inches 
of the black loam, is a good rule. If your sur¬ 
face soil is one foot in depth, two inches of the 
yellow loam gravel or clay may be brought to 
the surface. If barn-yard manure or compost 
is used, it should be spread upon the surface 
and plowed in, then harrowed and cross-har¬ 
rowed with a long-toothed harrow. The more 
thoroughly you can pulverize the soil, the bet¬ 
ter. If it is desired to prepare the land for cold 
frame plants early in the spring, fall plowing and 
manuring is very desirable. 
After the plants are put out in the rows, the 
hoe or cultivator should be kept constantly mov¬ 
ing until the heads are ready for market. No 
week should go by from April to October with¬ 
out a thorough stirring of the surface. We 
have found the hand cultivator (price from two 
to three dollars) a very convenient article in the 
cultivation of this crop. It will do the work of 
several hoes, destroys the weeds, and moves the 
soil just deep enough. The horse cultivator, 
except in the first weeding, makes too deep 
work, cutting off all the roots near the surface. 
The hand cultivator will pay for itself several 
times in a season, if kept busy on a half acre 
of cabbages. 
Manures. —All, who have tried hog manure 
for this crop, have probably found their cab¬ 
bages clump footed. If, however, the contents 
of the sty be mixed very largely with muck or 
charcoal dust, and be allowed to ferment in a 
compost heap for a few weeks, no such result 
will follow. One cord of this manure will enrich 
ten or twelve cords of muck, and make a safe 
dressing for cabbages. We have raised an ex¬ 
cellent crop the present season on soil manured 
with the contents of the sty, using sea weed as 
a divisor; but no one should venture upon this 
unless very large quantities of the divisor are 
used. 
Manures from the barn-yard and stable, will 
of course be used by those who make them upon 
their own premises. But these, it will be found, 
do not contain lime and potash enough to meet 
the wants of the crop. Unless there is an 
abundance of these ingredients in the soil, they 
can be best introduced through the compost 
heap. If twenty-five or thirty half cords of 
stable manure to the acre be applied in the falj 
and plowed in, the following will be found a good 
compost to be spread and plowed in in the 
spring: two and a half cords of muck or more 
if you have it, two hundred pounds of Peruvian 
guano. Mix these thoroughly and let them fer¬ 
ment a week before adding the other ingredients. 
Then add two hundred pounds of super-phos¬ 
phate of lime, one hundred pounds of potash 
scrapings dissolved in water, and ten bushels of 
the salt and lime mixture, made by dissolving 
one bushel of salt in water, and mixing the 
brine with three bushels of oyster-shell lime 
fresh from the kiln. 
If you wish to prepare your own manures in¬ 
stead of purchasing them, substitute for the 
guano sixty bushels of night-soil, make your 
own super-phosphate of lime by dissolving 200 
pounds of bones in 100 pounds of sulphuric 
acid, adding about two and a half times its bulk 
of water, (see No. 8 of this journal, page 1st.,) 
and thirty bushels of ashes for the potash scrap¬ 
ings. 
No compost can be given that will be most 
economical for all cultivators. Every one must 
ascertain the wants of the crop, and then sup¬ 
ply it with the manures which he can most con¬ 
veniently command. A gardener, or farmer, 
near a city or village, having his own team and 
laborers, and where night-soil can be had for 
the carting, has no occasion to buy guano. An¬ 
other who can have bones for the trouble of 
gathering them, need not purchase super-phos¬ 
phate of lime. Where ashes can be had for ten 
cents a bushel, potash is a poor purchase. 
Next after potash and lime, soda, chlorine and 
sulphuric acid are the greatest wants of the 
plant. We have found both salt muck and sea 
weed excellent dressings for the land devoted to 
this crop. To all cultivators who have easy ac¬ 
cess to the shore, we are confident that sea 
weeds will be found among the best fertilizers 
for this crop. They are very rich in nitrogen, 
which the cabbage requires in large quantity, 
and they also abound in potash, soda, chlorine, 
and sulphuric acid. 
J. F. W. Johnston, in his Agricultural Chem¬ 
istry, intimates, that the knowledge of the con¬ 
stituents of the sea weed is yet very imperfect, 
but he gives an analysis of eleven different va¬ 
rieties, and the average of the whole. The 
mean approximate of the eleven gives in one 
hundred parts of the ash : Potash, 17.50 ; Soda, 
12.70; Lime, 7.39; Magnesia, 9.89; Chloride 
of Sodium, 16.56 ; Chloride of Potassium, 0.93 ; 
Iodine of Sodium, 0.95; Phosphate of Lime, 
7.24; Oxide of Iron, 0.21; Sulphuric Acid, 
24.76; Silica, 1.81. 
This table is accurate enough for practical 
purposes, and perhaps gives us the best idea of 
the value of the miscellaneous weeds thrown 
upon our shores, that we can obtain, short of 
an analysis of each by some competent chemist. 
It will be seen at a glance, that a sixth part of 
the ash is potash, nearly a third chlorine and 
soda, and a fourth sulphuric acid. Compare 
the above analysis with that of the cabbage, 
and you will understand the reason of the suc¬ 
cessful application of this fertilizer. 
The best concentrated manure we have ever 
applied is the super-phosphate of lime, improved 
by the addition of guano and sulphate of am¬ 
monia ; a table-spoonful to a plant brought them 
forward rapidly, and made fine heads. 
They that have read about every thing are 
thought to understand every thing, too; but it is 
not always so. Reading furnishes the mind on¬ 
ly with the materials of knowledge; it is think¬ 
ing that makes what we read ours. We are of 
the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram 
ourselves with a great load of collections—we 
must chew them over again.— Channing. 
