BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 505 
white, or drumhead cabbage. These are usually planted in 
spring, and will grow in almost any situation, but thrive best 
in a deep, strong, mellow, loamy soil. They require plenty 
of light and a large quantity of manure, and have been con¬ 
sidered by many agriculturists to be very exhausting to the 
soil. Be. this as it may, they yield an abundant and valuable 
supply of food, which is much liked by all kinds of cattle, 
and is especially valuable when given to milch cows, in com¬ 
bination with hay, increasing the quantity of the lacteal 
secretion, and not imparting that disagreeable flavour to 
milk and butter which turnips frequently do. 
Cabbages have been known to attain the weight of thirty 
to forty pounds each, but the average size in a good crop do 
not generally exceed one third of this weight. According to 
Mr. Sinclair’s analysis, “one pound of drumhead cabbage 
contains 430 grains of nutritive matter, and 312 grains of 
fibre.” 
Dr. Voelcker says, “ that no kind of green food cultivated 
on a large scale in the field contains so much nutritious 
matter as cabbage.” 
The following observations from Lindley’s f School of 
Botany 5 will give a general outline of the remainder of this 
tribe of plants: “The genus Brassica is the parent of a large 
number of plants in common cultivation. Cabbages, Savoys, 
Brussels sprouts, are varieties of Brassica oleracea, with 
large leaves; when the stem is enlarged into a fleshy, turnip¬ 
like knob above the ground, it forms the Kohl Rabi, or Knol 
Kohl; when the flowers are very imperfect, and crowded 
together in close heads before expansion, they form what are 
called brocoli and cauliflowers. Brassica nassus has pro¬ 
duced all the turnips except the Swedish, the origin of which 
is unknown; Brassica rapa is chiefly valuable for ploughing 
in while green, and for its seeds, which, under the name of 
rape and colza, are crushed in large quantities for oil, the 
residue being given to cattle as “cake,” or “oil-cake.” 
A few further remarks will be necessary to bring more 
particularly under notice one of the above-mentioned plants, 
viz., the Brassica caulo-rapac (or Kold-rabi). This plant, 
although cultivated in many parts of the country, has not 
received that general attention from the agriculturist which 
its importance and value as food for animals deserves. Its 
produce is similar to the Swedish turnip, but it possesses the 
following advantages, viz., it will grow and produce a crop 
upon land which will not produce a crop of turnips. It can 
also withstand a dry season and a considerable degree of 
frost. It does not impart that disagreeable flavour to the 
