I 
4 THE COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION. 
somewhat with the season. For early cabbage the first seed are sown from 
March 1st to 15th. At least two sowings should be made to avoid danger of 
accidents and a possibility of the first plants becoming too large before the 
weather will permit setting. 
Seed for early cabbage are sown either in fiats in a forcing house or 
in hotbeds. If sown in flats, the seedlings soon begin to crowd and are 
pricked out of the seed flats as soon as the first leaf appears. In this opera¬ 
tion the plants may be put into other flats one inch apart each way, or they 
may be put into hotbeds or coldframes. If the seed are sown in hotbeds 
the seedlings are not generally transplanted at all till time to set in the field. 
In this case the seed must be sown more sparingly or the young seedlings 
must be thinned so as not to crowd. Young plants either in the forcing 
house or hotbed are apt to be tender and are very susceptible to a disease 
known as the “damping-off fungus.” This trouble is the result of a too high 
temperature, not enough fresh air, or too much water. The disease is hard 
to control after it once gets a foot-hold, but may be checked to some extent 
by remedying these conditions and sprinkling, dry sand among the plants. 
When plants are grown in the forcing house or hotbed, great care must be 
exercised to properly harden them off before setting in the open ground. In 
the forcing house this is done by keeping the temperature low and giving 
all the ventilation possible when the weather will permit. If the hotbed is 
used, the sash may be first partly removed and later taken off during pleas¬ 
ant weather. Properly hardened plants will endure temperatures of from ten 
to twenty degrees below freezing point after setting in the field. If not 
properly hardened off, exposure to freezing temperatures often prove fatal. 
For late planting the seed is usually sown in the open ground. If 
large fields are to be planted, two, three, 'or even four sowings are made. 
The first seeding is made about the tenth of April with the others following 
at intervals of about seven days. 
The seed in the open ground is sown in a double row system. That 
is, two rows are sown from ten to sixteen inches apart with space enough 
between to run a cultivator and a ditch for irrigation, Since the cucumber 
flea beetle has. caused so much damage to the young plants, some growers 
are growing the plants for late setting in coldframes. In this case the seed 
are sown is rows in the frames six inches apart and are allowed to grow 
in this way until setting in the field. These frames are found to be most 
convenient if made twelve feet long by six feet wide, or in a multiple of 
those proportions. The frames are made of boards or planks twelve or 
fourteen inches high on the back or north side, and lower in front. The 
covers used for this purpose are made of cheap unbleached muslin stretched 
on three by six-foot frames. By keeping these covers on the beds during 
the time the plants are pricking through the ground, the beetles are pre¬ 
vented from getting to the plants. A coldframe of the size mentioned will 
produce enough plants for about one acre of land. 
In planning for the crop it is estimated that one pound of seed will 
produce plants for four or five acres of land, or fifty thousand plants. This, 
of course, varies with the germinating power of the seed and weather con¬ 
ditions during seeding time. 
PLANTING. 
The operation of setting the plants differs more from setting in the 
humid districts than does other operations connected with the industry. In 
the East, plants may be set even in fairly dry soil without watering, and few, 
if any, of these plants sustain permanent injury. The intense sunshine and 
rapid evaporation of moisture in Colorado are such as to make this method 
impracticable here. 
Setting the plants for the late crop is done sometime during the 
month of June. After the land has been put in a good state of tilth by the 
use of the harrow, ditches are made with a shovel plow. These ditches or 
rows are made in the direction which will make irrigation the most ad¬ 
vantageous. The distance between ditches differs somewhat with the variety 
of cabbage to be grown, and varies from twenty-four to thirty-six inches. 
The majority of growers plant late cabbage in rows twenty-eight inches 
apart. These ditches are eighteen to twenty inches wide at top and from 
six to nine inches deep. After the ditches are made, one man goes along 
the row dropping plants. These are placed from fifteen to eighteen inches 
apart in the ditch. Another man follows the dropper to set the plants. 
In this operation the finger or a sharpened stick is used to make a hole dn 
the side of the ditch about half way from the top to the bottom. The plant 
is placed in this hole, then the soil pushed back around the roots. Water is 
