The best catalogues of seeds enumerate over twenty varieties, beside the
cauliflowers, borecoles, &c. A few are superior, and should, therefore,
be cultivated to the exclusion of the others.
EARLY YORK is best for early use. It is earlier than any other, and with
proper treatment nearly every plant will form a small, compact, solid
head, tender, and of delicious flavor. No garden is complete without it.
EARLY DUTCH, AND EARLY SUGARLOAF, come next in season to the Early York,
producing much larger heads.
LARGE YORK is a good variety, maturing later than the preceding, and
before the late drumheads.
Large Drumhead, Late Drumhead, or Large Flat Dutch, are the best for
winter and spring use. There are many varieties under these names, so
that cultivators often get disappointed in purchasing seeds. It is now
difficult to describe cabbages intelligibly. Every worthless hybrid goes
under some excellent name.
A Dutch cabbage, with a short stem and very small at the ground, is the
best with which we are acquainted. Of this variety (the seed of which
was brought from Germany), we have raised solid heads, larger than a
half bushel, while others called good, standing by their side, did not
grow to more than half that size. This variety may be distinguished by
the purple on the top of the grown head, and by the decided purple of
the young plants, resembling the Red Dutch, though not of quite so deep
a color.
RED DUTCH, having a very hard, small head, deep purple throughout, is
the very best for pickling; every garden should have a few. They are
also good for ordinary purposes.
GREEN CURLED SAVOY, when well grown, is a good variety.
The _Imperial_, the _Russian_, Large Scotch for feeding, and others, are
enumerated and described, but are inferior to the above. It is useless
to endeavor to grow cabbages on any but the best of soil. Plant corn on
poor land, and it will mature and yield a small crop. Plant cabbages on
similar soil, and you will get nothing but a few leaves for cattle.
Therefore, if your land designed for cabbages be not already very rich,
put a load of stable-manure on each square rod. Cabbages are a very
exhausting crop. The soil should be worked fully eighteen inches deep,
and have manure well mixed with the whole. The best preparation we ever
made was by double-plowing--not subsoiling, but plowing twice with
similar plows: put on a good coat of manure, and plow with two teams in
the same furrow, one plow gauged so as to turn a light furrow, and the
other a very deep one, throwing it out of the bottom of the first; when
the first plow comes round, it will throw the light furrow into the
bottom of the deep one. This repeated over the whole plot will stir the
soil sixteen or eighteen inches deep, and put from four to six inches of
the top, manure and all, in the bottom, under the other. We have done
this admirably with one plow, changing the gauge of the clevis every
time round, and going twice in a furrow: this is the best way for those
who use but one team in plowing; it is worth much more than the
additional time required in plowing. Enrich the surface a little with
fine manure, and you have land in the best possible condition for
cabbages. This is a fine preparation for onions and other garden
vegetables, and for all kinds of berries. Subsoiling is good, but
double-plowing is better in all cases, where you can afford to enrich
the surface, after this deep plowing.
The alluvial soils of the West need no enriching after double-plowing.
Land so level, or having so hard a subsoil as to allow water to stand on
it in a wet season, is not good for cabbages. They also suffer more than
most crops from drought. One of the most important offices of plenty of
manure is its control of the moisture. Land well manured does not so
soon feel the effects of drought. One of the best means of preserving
moisture about the roots of cabbages, is to put a little manure in the
bottom of the holes when transplanting; put it six inches below the
surface. Manure from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; it is
in the best condition about the time for transplanting cabbages. It is
then very wet, and has a wonderful power of retaining the moisture.
Manure from the blacksmith-shop, containing hoof-parings, &c., is very
good. If the manure be too dry, pour in water and cover immediately. Set
the plant in the soil, over the manure, the roots extending down into
it, with a little fine mould mixed in it, and it will retain moisture
through a severe drought; no further watering will be necessary, and not
one out of twenty-five of all your plants will fail to make a good head.
In climates subject to drought in summer, cabbages should be set out
earlier; they require more time in dry weather than in wet. Should they
incline to crack open from too rapid growth, raise them a little, and
push them down again; this will break some roots, and so loosen the
remainder that the growth will be checked and the heads saved. Winter
cabbages should be allowed to stand in the ground as long as possible,
without danger of freezing in. The question of transplanting, and of
sowing the seed in the places where they are designed to head, has been
much controverted. We have succeeded well in both ways, but prefer
transplanting; it gives opportunity to stir the ground deep, and keep
down weeds, and thus preserve moisture until summer, when it is time to
transplant; it also makes shorter, smaller, and straighter stems, which
is favorable to a larger growth of heads. Sow seed on poor land; the
plants will be straighter, more hardy, and less affected by insects.
Seed for early spring cabbages should be sown on poor soil in September
or October; if inclined to get too forward, transplant, once or twice;
late in fall, set them close together, lay poles in forks of limbs put
down for the purpose, and cover with straw, as a protection from severe
frost; the poles are to prevent the covering from lying on the plants.
_Preserving_, for winter or spring use, is best done by plowing a furrow
on land where water will not stand, and placing the heads in the furrow
with the roots up. Cover with earth from three to six inches deep,
letting the roots protrude. The large leaves will convey all the water
off from the heads, and they will come out as fresh and good as in the
fall. If you wish some, more easily accessible, for winter use, set them
in the cellar in a small trench, in which a little water should be kept,
and they will not only be preserved fresh, but will grow all winter, if
the cellar be free from frost. They are also well preserved put in
trenches eighteen inches deep, out door, with a little good soil in the
bottom, and protected with poles and straw as directed for winter
plants. Cabbages that have scarcely any heads in the fall, so treated,
will grow all winter, and come out good, tender, fresh heads in spring.
_Transplanting._--This is usually done in wet weather: if it be so wet
as to render the soil muddy by stirring, it injures the plants. This may
be successfully done in dry weather, not excessively hot. Have a basin
of water, in which dip the root and shake it, so as to wash off all the
earth from the seed-bed that adheres to it. Put the plant in its place
at once, and the soil in which it is to grow takes hold of the roots
readily, and nearly every one will live. Transplant with your hand, a
transplanting trowel, a stick, or a dibble made of a spade-handle, one
foot long, sharpened off abruptly, and the eye left on for a handle. Put
the plant in its place, thrust the dibble down at a sharp angle with the
plant, and below it, and move it up to it. The soil will thus be pressed
close around the roots, leaving no open space, and the plant will grow.
Do not leave the roots so long that they will be doubled up in
transplanting--better cut off the ends.
Large cabbages should be three feet apart each way, and in perfectly
straight rows; this saves expense in cultivating, as it can be done with
a horse. The usual objections of farmers to gardening, on account of the
time required to hoe and weed, would be remedied by planting in long,
straight rows, at suitable distances apart, to allow the free use of
horse, cultivator, and plow, in cultivating; thus, beets, carrots,
cabbages, onions, &c., are almost as easily raised as corn. An easy
method of raising good cabbages is on greensward. Put on a good dressing
of manure, plow once and turn over handsomely, roll level, and harrow
very mellow on the top, without disturbing the turf below; make places
for planting seeds at the bottom of the turf; a little stirring of the
surface, and destruction of the few weeds that will grow, will be all
the further care necessary. The roots will extend under the sod in the
manure below it, and will there find plenty of moisture, even when the
surface is quite dry, and will grow profusely.
_Seed._--Nothing is more difficult in cabbage culture than raising pure
seed; nothing hybridizes worse, and in nothing else is the effect worse.
It must not be raised in the same garden with anything else of the
cabbage or turnip kind; they will mix in the blossoms, and the worse
will prevail. Raise seeds only from the best heads, and only one
variety; break off all the lower shoots, allowing only a few of the best
to mature. Seeds raised from stumps, from which the head has been
removed for use, will incline the leaves to grow down, as we often see,
instead of closing up into heads.