234 ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
As regards the cabbage or hearting forms of the group 
scarcely too much can be said; the growth of these is yearly 
extending, and as we have so many sorts seemingly adapt¬ 
able for very different conditions of land, we have no doubt 
but that the cultivation of cabbages will greatly increase. 
The drumhead, a smooth-leaved form, and the drumhead 
savoy, a wrinkled-leaved form, are much grown for food for 
both cattle and sheep. In growing these the young plants 
are sown in seed beds and transplanted to the field before 
the summer has quite gone. The size to which they some¬ 
times grow and the amount of the crop may be judged from 
the fact that forty tons per acre, some of the individuals 
weighing as much as fifty pounds, are not uncommon. 
Some of the smaller sorts of cabbage, as the Battersea, the 
London market, the Enfield market, and others, make an 
exceedingly good cattle crop as well as being esculents. 
Our plan of growing these is to sow in April, in autumn 
cultivated root-land, drilled in rows, at the rate of two 
pounds of seed to the acre. When the plants get into 
their second leaf they may be flat-hoed preparatory to thin¬ 
ning, and regulating when they get to a sufficient size. This 
work is done, much like that connected with roots, by means 
of a twelve-inch hoe; or if the plants be required for trans¬ 
planting, they can be thinned out by hand. 
For weeding purposes, as well as to return the soil about 
the roots, the horse-hoe may be employed as often as neces¬ 
sary, though we prefer hand-hoeing if it can be done at 
reasonable cost. 
But, however cabbage crops are grown, there is no doubt 
about their utility. Cattle and sheep are both exceedingly 
fond of cabbage, and it is found upon trial to be a most nu¬ 
tritious and salutary crop. Its feeding qualities are said to 
be about on a par with swedes, and, therefore, it is not ill 
adapted for cultivation on part of the root ground, as it 
affords a change; but there is one reason why it should not 
be grown to a large extent, and that is the difficulty ex¬ 
perienced in keeping it so well or so long as roots. 
The cabbage section that does not heart is such as the 
thousand-headed cabbage, greens, and rape. 
As regards the former, we have just now a magnificent 
crop. It would well nigh overshadow a sheep, and is of 
great importance in aiding us to bring on both ewes and 
lambs. 
The rape crop is always useful. We usually employ it 
to mend up headlands in the swede and turnip field, sowing 
it after these crops have been hoed, the clear headlands 
