15 ) 14 . 
THE RURAL N K W -YORKER 
738 
DISCUSSION OF A CABBAGE CROP. 
I am 15 years of age. My father had a considerable 
portion of our acreage turned under last Fall, and I 
propose to put under cultivation hair an acre in Danish 
Ballbead cabbage to the end that I may learn some¬ 
thing as well as make some money. Will you tell me 
whether I should start with seed or young plants? 
Our land is a clay loam, turned under last Fall, having 
been in sod for a good many years. Mow much seed 
will it require? How many plants can I figure on? 
SPRAYING WHITEWASH ON CONSERVATORY. 
Fig. 301. 
What fertilizer should I use? What time should I 
plant the seed or sets, and could you state about the 
probable cost from planting to harvest, my time figured 
at 7% cents an hour? We have a cultivator I could use 
to do the seeding and cultivation with and would you 
dare venture a guess as to the profits I might expect, 
all things considered? r k i> 
Erie Co., X. Y. 
Both cabbage and potatoes are subject to a wide 
variation in yield and cash returns to the acre, 
owing to season conditions affecting growth and 
final development, as well as the fact that there is 
no holding over of a crop. Then again, in a year 
of favorable conditions and large acreage, resulting 
in a heavy yield, the price is apt to be discourag- 
ingly low. When, on the other hand, the acreage, 
weather conditions, etc., are about normal there is 
big profit in the cabbage crop. Taking it on an 
average for 10 years there is good money in cabbage. 
SOIL AND PREPARATION.—A well-drained, 
well-fertilized clay loam is ideal ground for cab¬ 
bage. If it he Fall j(lowed without manure it is 
well to apply fine manure in the Spring and thor¬ 
oughly disk it in. If plowed in the spring this 
should be done early, plowing under a good coat of 
manure, for cabbage is a rank feeder. Cabbage 
ground wants frequent and thorough cultivation 
right up to time for setting the plants. Just be¬ 
fore planting an'application of 500 pounds of 5-8-10 
fertilizer will prove very beneficial to the crop. 
SEED.—The best and purest seed possible should 
be secured, as there is so often a mixture in this, 
and it is disappointing at harvest time to find a per¬ 
centage of all-season or domestic cabbage scattered 
through the crop. The true Danish Railhead is a 
medium size, sometimes a little elongated, and very 
solid, with a little rise or button on the top in the 
center of the head. The heads will average from 
three to six pounds each. 
QUANTITY OF SEED.—One pound of good seed, 
if conditions are right, will furnish plants for four 
acres, but it is better to sow more than this as an 
insurance. The seed is usually sown with a seed drill 
in rows 12 to 10 inches apart, and not too crowded 
in the rows. This will allow the plants to be more 
stocky and have shorter stems. They should be 
kept clean of weeds and well cultivated; May 15 is 
about the average date for sowing the seed. 
TIME AND MANNER OF PLANTING.—The time 
of planting in this latitude is around the last week 
in June. A great many are set later than this date, 
but chances are not as good with late planting. The 
cabbage planter is generally used in fields of any 
extent, as the machine drops a quality of water just 
as the plant is stuck and the work goes on rapidly. 
About three to four acres can be planted in this way, 
in a day. It requires a driver, two men or boys to 
stick plants and two to get the plants ready and in 
convenient shape for the stickers. If a small area, 
say an acre, is to be planted it can be done cheaper 
by hand setting, especially if the rows are short, 
l'he longer the rows the better the machine works, 
as there is less turning. In field culture the rows 
are usually three feet apart, while the plants in 
the row are from 15 to 18 inches apart. This allows 
for from 7,<X)0 to 10,000 plants to the acre. The out¬ 
side leaves always droop down and often dry up 
after setting, but if the little center leaves look green 
and lively the plant is all right and will come on 
sooner than if replaced by another plant. 
CULTIVATION.—This is one of the most import¬ 
ant steps in profitable cabbage raising. The culti¬ 
vation should be started as soon as planting is fin¬ 
ished, not even waiting for the plants to stand up. 
This leaves a level fine mulch, and obliterates all 
evidence of tramping and packing of the surface that 
occurred during the planting. Then keep the culti¬ 
vator going at least once a week, until the plants 
are well heading. The twisting and turning of the 
plants by the cultivator when they get large only 
seems to give the roots a better hold on the soil. 
The cabbage crop needs a great deal of moisture to 
enable the plants to absorb the needed fertility, 
which has been developed and applied, and the fre¬ 
quent cultivation conserves and retains the moisture 
to this end. Level and shallow culture is advisable 
with this crop. Danish cabbage is usually harvested 
after November 1st. although when the earlier heads 
show a lighter color which indicates ripening and 
danger of cracking open, they are cut out and 
stored or marketed, or loosened in the ground, leav¬ 
ing only a few roots holding, which stops the pump¬ 
ing up of moisture and will often prevent bursting 
of the heads. 
THE YIELD AND PRICE.—The yield runs from 
eight to 25 tons to the acre, as extremes. 15 tons to 
the acre being a good average. In the price per 
ton there is also a wide range—from .$3 to 850 a 
ton. There is big money in cabbage at $10 to $15 
per ton when the yield is good. There is great loss 
by shrinkage in storing cabbage, and it is an expen¬ 
sive crop to rehandle, so. if possible, it is best in ihe 
majority of cases to market direct from the field. 
However, if it is determined to store, a good out of 
doors storage is made by setting up two posts with a 
PR<ITECTING CHERRIES FR<)M BIRDS. Fig. 302. 
ridge pole from one to the other of these posts. 
Rails on poles set up on either side meet at the 
ridge making a long A-sliaped storage in which the 
cabbage is piled carefully, allowing good ventilation 
at the ends, for cabbage must be kept cool—close 
to freezing—and even a little frost will do no 
harm, as it does in potatoes. The outside of this 
storage is covered with straw and then coarse man¬ 
ure, as needed, according to the severity of the 
weather. In such a storage cabbage can be taken 
out at any time without exposure t<> freezing winds. 
INSECT ENEMIES.—Often t.he small black flea 
proves troublesome in the case of the young plants, 
when they are just starting from the seed. Bulle¬ 
tins on sprays of different sorts and for different 
purposes can be secured from the state Experiment 
Station at Geneva by sending in a request. Some 
seasons, the cabbage louse or woolly aphis is very 
destructive to the growing crop. If these affected 
plants are discovered in time the lice can be wiped 
( ff by using a cloth and whale oil soap emulsion, but 
if they are too far gone the plant should be removed 
from the field and destroyed. Spraying the crop for 
this trouble seems to have little effect. 
It is not customary to plant cabbage on the same 
ground the second year, as this practice often in¬ 
duces what is known as stump rot. The average 
cost of an acre of cabbage is around $50 to $00. 
This cost can be greatly reduced where a large acre¬ 
age is grown, the machine planter and riding two 
row cultivator being used; but in the case of a small 
acreage where these advantages are not to be had, 
$50 to $00 per acre is the average cost, this estimate 
being based on my own experience and what in¬ 
formation I have come in touch with outside. A. good 
crop of cabbage, when the market is right, ought to 
net the grower from $100 to $400 per acre. 
h. e. c. 
“ BUILDING UP” POOR SOIL. 
I have read the inquiry of II. N., on page 587, 
and while I cannot answer the questions he asks, I 
feel impelled to assure him. the cow route to soil 
fertility is not as bad as he thinks. My problem 
is much like his, back-to-the-lander on a run-down 
farm, and I chose the cow route. I could not afford 
purebreds, especially to practice on. as I was fresh 
from the city, but there are some scrub cows which 
can pay their way. By finding one of these, and 
raising a heifer calf or two from purebred bulls each 
year, I now have six head, and these with my team 
give me considerable manure for a 25-acre fruit 
farm, besides paying a modest profit on the side. 
Y\ e make butter, and feed the skim-milk to calves 
and pigs. 
I have been at it three years, and am beginning 
to see some results here and there from my tile and 
manure, and 1 am satisfied. If Nature were re¬ 
storing fertility to II. X.’s farm or mine, successive 
crops of weeds would finally be followed by scrub 
trees, and in the course of a century or so the land 
might reach a fair state of fertility. While it is 
possible to hasten the process somewhat, building 
up run-down land strikes me as pretty gradual 
business, at best. Manure is popularly regarded 
here as the best means for this purpose. Buffalo 
manure (horse manure with shavings) costs $28 per 
carload .and is generally used one carload to the 
acre, by those not having stock manure of their 
own. Another method of upbuilding soil fertility 
often resorted to is sowing oats and Timothy and 
clover seed with a 2-S-10 fertilizer, and then broad¬ 
casting about 400 pounds of raw ground bone per 
acre. This becomes available too late to help the 
oafs, and gives a heavy stand of hay, with a good 
sod to plow under. Rye is generally used as a 
cover crop. a. m. 
Erie Co., N. Y. 
Ii. N.-Y.—Our own soil, originally hard and sour, 
has been doubled in productive power without the 
use of any manure. Such manure as we do make 
is put on the fields near the buildings. The rest of 
the farm has been built up by plowing under crops 
of rye, vetch, Crimson clover and turnips with lime 
each year._ 
THE LOCAL STORE QUESTION. 
On page 01.8 is a discussion of the catalogue house 
plan of building. Suppose you have $100, and it 
will take it all to buy from your local merchant. 
His prices, some at least, look high. By examining 
the catalogue sent in response to your postal card 
for prices you find that the goods will cost $75, and 
freight one or two dollars, say $5. so as to allow 
plenty. You have your goods and $20 in your 
pocket to use in your own business. If you bought 
from the local dealer he would have had $20 to $25 
in his pocket, and in either case the bulk of the 
$100 would go to the city dealer and the carrying 
company. I see no reason why the country mer¬ 
chant cannot sell as cheaply as anyone else. The 
better class of catalogue houses advertise "satisfac¬ 
tion guaranteed; if for any reason or no reason our 
goods are not satisfactory you may return them and 
we will repay your money and the freight both 
ways. The fact that they are making fortunes 
while dealing on those terms shows that their prices 
THE FARM CAVALRY. Fig. 303. 
are not too low. The local dealer has an advantage 
in that you see and examine the goods before buy¬ 
ing. and you can buy in smaller lots than you would 
if sending away for goods, also you can often barter 
produce instead of cash. The fact is the buyer needs 
to prosper as well as the seller for any satisfactory 
sort of prosperity. What we need is an equitable 
division of the results of our efforts. b. 
Illinois. 
