S12 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEN'ER. 
April 10,1890, 
CABBAGES. 
Difficult indeed is it to say when a crop of Cabbages is most 
«-:eful to a fanner. Sown now, Sutton’s Early Oxheart affords a 
grand supply of green food by the end of August, when pastures 
nre so often bare, and green fodder of any kind is a boon. Sown 
in August, and planted out in October, the ordinary Drumhead ig 
in use in June, July, and August, and is then of especial value on 
East Anglian corn farms, both for ewes and for lambs kept for 
stock or for hoggets. In Dorset, where the lambing is exceptionally 
early. Cabbages are regarded as especially valuable in the last three 
months of the year, and this crop is obtained from spring sown 
seed. In folding for use in yards or out on pasture for store 
cattle, cows, and pigs. Cabbages are equally useful, and as by 
management they can be had at any special season or throughout 
the year they are certainly worthy of a more prominent place than 
is usually given them. 
For dairy cows they must be used with care, as cows always 
consume such succulent food greedily. A moderate quantity daily 
in winter and early spring used with other food always does good. 
In summer as pasture grows bare, and in autumn as it becomes less 
nourishing. Cabbages are a wholesome change, especially if used 
alternately with tares or green Maize, and there is then no risk of 
unpleasant flavour in the butter, which there certainly is if cows 
are allowed to have either as much Cabbage or green Maize as they 
can eat. In southern counties, where Maize answers as a fodder 
plant. Cabbages should be sown in April to form a successional crop 
to it, and for general purposes it is best now to sow early Oxheart 
with Intermediate and Late Drumhead, as these three fine sorts give 
an excellent successional supply for a long time in autumn and 
winter. 
On many farms plants from seed sown last August are left in 
the seed bed all winter. The intention is to leave them in the 
seed bed till February and then plant out in the field, but very 
often the planting cannot be done till March in a wet late season, 
the crop is thus retarded by fully a month. If part of the August 
sowings are planted out in autumn, then the spring planting forms 
an admirable succession. Autumn planting is often avoided 
because of the heavy losses among the plants during winter and 
the consequent labour of replanting, but it must not be forgotten 
that much time is lost in this way. A much better plan is to drill 
the seed on rich land about the middle of August, to run the horse 
hoe between the rows once or twice after the plants are visible, 
but not to single the plants till February or March, when any risk 
of loss will be at an end. By this plan the plants sustain no check, 
and little, if any, transplanting will be required. The land avail¬ 
able for the purpose may have recently been cleared of a crop of 
winter Oats, which in ordinary seasons are ripe in July, or it may 
have been foul land cleaned and cropped with Mustard which is 
either folded or ploughed in. The extra outlay for seed which 
drilling involves is the only objection, but that is surely well 
counterbalanced by the more speedy and certain growth, and the 
avoidance of all the attendant risk and cost of transplanting. 
When land cannot be had for drilling, then the plants must be 
raised in a seed bed, a pound of seed so sown being calculated to 
afford enough plants for an imperial acre. The distance apart 
of the plants should depend upon the sort as well as upon the 
condition of the soil. We have known late Drumheads placed 
3 feet apart advantageously in a rich loam, and we have found 
it answer as well in lighter soil to have the rows 30 inches apart, 
and the plants 20 inches apart in the rows. 
The weight of this crop per acre has a wide range, of which 
the minimum may be placed at 20 tons, and the maximum as 
high as 40 to 50 tons, and the sight of a huge fully developed 
“ Drumhead,” weighing some 40 or 50 lbs., carries conviction with 
it of the possibility of a crop of the higher weight per acre. No 
doubt Cabbages are an exhaustive crop, but then so is everything 
else more or less so ; but we have only to bring our cultivation up 
to the standard of excellence implied by the gigantic fifty pounders, 
and we shall not care to trouble our heads about “ exhaustion.” 
Why, we have even heard objections raised to the cultivation of 
Winter Oats upon the score of exhaustion, and to all such alarmists 
we say. Keep the soil well stored with fertility, do not suffer 
weeds to rob it, and then you need have no fears about exhaus¬ 
tion. Bring a little common sense to bear upon the matter, 
and it will be obvious that nothing is easier than the regular 
storage of the soil with plant’ food upon the simple but indis¬ 
pensable plan of judicious compensation. 
WORK ON THE HOME EARII. 
In sowing Clover or seeds for mixed layers with spring corn avoid 
fields infested with Charlock or Poppy seed, because the double crop 
prevents hoeing, and the rollers are run over the corn and seeds as soon 
as the plant is well above the surface. Hoeing should be begun early 
on foul land, and it is here that a really good drill hoe proves so useful. 
Never waste money upon the purchase of an old drill, but have as strong 
and perfect an implement as possible ; then if you have a set of corn 
hoes they can be put on the drill now, and much good work be done, 
much time and labour saved. But the hoes must be uniform in size and 
position, and the implement well under control, or harm may be done to 
the corn, and much of the hoeing otherwise badly done. Wc have seen 
an entire row of corn spoilt by a loose hoe, and we have seen more than 
half the weeds missed or only bruised by the hoes. The master or fore¬ 
man should always watch the working of the hoes for the first turn or 
two up and down the field, and as frequently as possible afterwards, and 
a reliable man set to follow the implement. A small field of Carrots 
should always be sown on every home farm, both for home consumption 
and for the requirements of the hunting or hackney stables. A few 
Carrots are always useful for horses, and we consider them indispensable 
for dairy cows in the last tl^ree months of the year. It is of especial 
importance that the land should be clean as well as fertile, as young 
Carrot plants are so small that they are soon overgrown by weeds. No 
soil is without weeds of some sort or other, and hoes must be briskly 
at work at once after the plants are visible. Quick germination is pro¬ 
moted if the seed is kept damp for about a week before sowing. This 
is done by thoroughly mixing two bushels of sand with 6 lbs. of seed 
per acre, taking great care to well separate the seed. Then spread the 
mass out thinly upon a barn fioor, and keep it moist by a slight oc¬ 
casional sprinkling with water. The plant then appears so quickly 
after the sowing is done that it has a fair start of weeds, and with 
careful hoeing and singling a full crop is not difficult to obtain. 
Under good management a crop of Carrots should not prove more 
expensive than any other root crop, and it is certainly so useful as to 
be worthy of a little extra care. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
0 A.H. 
IN THE DAY. 
a 
1800. 
March 
and 
April 
Barome- 
ter at 32® 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind, 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
snn. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In, 
Sunday. 
SO 
80.119 
48.1 
44.0 
s.w. 
45.2 
59.6 
35.8 
99.9 
27.9 
— 
Monday. 
31 
30.263 
46.2 
41.1 
N.E. 
45.0 
58.2 
36.9 
95.6 
28.9 
— 
Tuesday 
1 
30.382 
41.2 
37.6 
E. 
44.8 
61.5 
83.8 
91.8 
83.8 
— 
Wednesday.. 
2 
30.184 
42.1 
88.4 
E. 
43.9 
49.8 
31.8 
97.2 
31.8 
— 
Thursday.... 
8 
80.132 
45.8 
41.3 
E. 
43.6 
65.3 
84.9 
100.6 
34.9 
— 
Friday . 
4 
30.130 
42.8 
40.5 
N.E. 
43.8 
69.3 
82.9 
102.4 
32.9 
— • 
Saturday .... 
6 
30.120 
44.6 
39.4 
41.3 
58.8 
30.5 
97.4 
30.5 
— 
30.191 
44.4 
40.3 
44.4 
65.4 
33.8 
97.8 
31.5 
KEMAEKS. 
30th.—Unbroken snnehine throughout. 
31st.—Brilliant early; fine and generally bright day. 
iBt.—Cloudy early; bright fine day, 
2 nd.—Bright throughout, 
3rd.—Fine and bright, 
4th.—Mild, cloudless day; clear, cold night, 
6 ih.—Mild and bright in the morning; hazy with a little cloud in the afternoon, 
A rainless and almost cloudless week, with cold E, and K.E, winds. Mean tern 
perature almost exactly the average, the maxima being high and the minima low,— 
G. J. STMON8, 
