Produced by Tom Roch, Janet Blenkinship and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
New York
State College of Agriculture
At Cornell University
Ithaca, N. Y.
Library
* * * * *
Cabbages
and
Cauliflowers:
HOW TO GROW THEM.
A PRACTICAL TREATISE, GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT,
INCLUDING KEEPING AND MARKETING THE CROP.
[Illustration: Cabbage Head]
BY
JAMES J. H. GREGORY,
ORIGINAL INTRODUCER OF THE MARBLEHEAD, DEEP HEAD, WARREN,
ALL SEASONS, HARD HEADING, AND REYNOLDS CABBAGES.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by
JAMES J. H. GREGORY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
OBJECT OF TREATISE 1
THE ORIGIN OF CABBAGE 1
WHAT A CABBAGE IS 2
SELECTING THE SOIL 4
PREPARING THE SOIL 5
THE MANURE 6
HOW TO APPLY THE MANURE 8
MAKING THE HILLS AND PLANTING THE SEED 11
CARE OF THE YOUNG PLANTS 16
PROTECTING THE PLANTS FROM THEIR ENEMIES 18
THE GREEN WORM 22
CLUB, OR STUMP ROOT, OR MAGGOT 24
CARE OF THE GROWING CROP 29
MARKETING THE CROP 30
KEEPING CABBAGE THROUGH THE WINTER 32
HAVING CABBAGE MAKE HEADS IN WINTER 39
FOREIGN VARIETIES OF CABBAGE 43-45
AMERICAN VARIETIES 46-60
SAVOY VARIETIES 60-63
OTHER VARIETIES 63-67
CABBAGE GREENS 67
CABBAGE FOR STOCK 69
RAISING CABBAGE SEED 73
COOKING CABBAGE, SOUR-KROUT, ETC. 75
CABBAGE UNDER GLASS 76
COLD FRAME AND HOT-BED 78
CAULIFLOWER, BROCCOLI, BRUSSELS-SPROUTS, KALE
AND SEA-KALE 81
CABBAGES AND CAULIFLOWERS.
OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE.
As a general, yet very thorough, response to inquiries from many of my
customers about cabbage raising, I have aimed in this treatise to tell
them all about the subject. The different inquiries made from time to
time have given me a pretty clear idea of the many heads under which
information is wanted; and it has been my aim to give this with the same
thoroughness of detail as in my little work on Squashes. I have
endeavored to talk in a very practical way, drawing from a large
observation and experience, and receiving, in describing varieties, some
valuable information from McIntosh's work, "The Book of the Garden."
THE ORIGIN OF CABBAGE.
Botanists tell us that all of the Cabbage family, which includes not
only every variety of cabbage, Red, White, and Savoy, but all the
cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and brussels sprouts, had their origin in
the wild cabbage of Europe (_Brassica oleracea_), a plant with green,
wavy leaves, much resembling charlock, found growing wild at Dover in
England, and other parts of Europe. This plant, says McIntosh, is mostly
confined to the sea-shore, and grows only on chalky or calcareous
soils.
Thus through the wisdom of the Great Father of us all, who occasionally
in his great garden allows vegetables to sport into a higher form of
life, and grants to some of these sports sufficient strength of
individuality to enable them to perpetuate themselves, and, at times, to
blend their individuality with that of other sports, we have the heading
cabbage in its numerous varieties, the creamy cauliflower, the feathery
kale, the curled savoy. On my own grounds from a strain of seed that had
been grown isolated for years, there recently came a plant that in its
structure closely resembled Brussels Sprouts, growing about two feet in
height, with a small head under each leaf. The cultivated cabbage was
first introduced into England by the Romans, and from there nearly all
the kinds cultivated in this country were originally brought. Those
which we consider as peculiarly American varieties, have only been made
so by years of careful improvement on the original imported sorts. The
characteristics of these varieties will be given farther on.
WHAT A CABBAGE IS.
If we cut vertically through the middle of the head, we shall find it
made up of successive layers of leaves, which grow smaller and smaller,
almost _ad infinitum_. Now, if we take a fruit bud from an apple-tree
and make a similar section of it, we shall find the same structure. If
we observe the development of the two, as spring advances, we shall find
another similarity (the looser the head the closer will be the
resemblance),--the outer leaves of each will unwrap and unfold, and a
flower stem will push out from each. Here we see that a cabbage is a
bud, a seed bud (as all fruit buds may be termed, the production of
seed being the primary object in nature, the fruit enclosing it playing
but a secondary part), the office of the leaves being to cover, protect,
and afterwards nourish the young seed shoot. The outer leaves which
surround the head appear to have the same office as the leaves which
surround the growing fruit bud, and that office closes with the first
year, as does that of the leaves surrounding fruit buds, when each die
and drop off. In my locality the public must have perceived more or less
clearly the analogy between the heads of cabbage and the buds of trees,
for when they speak of small heads they frequently call them "buds."
That the close wrapped leaves which make the cabbage head and surround
the seed germ, situated just in the middle of the head at the
termination of the stump, are necessary for its protection and nutrition
when young, is proved, I think, by the fact that those cabbages, the
heads of which are much decayed, when set out for seed, no matter how
sound the seed germ may be at the end of the stump, never make so large
or healthy a seed shoot as those do the heads of which are sound; as a
rule, after pushing a feeble growth, they die.
For this reason I believe that the office of the head is similar to and
as necessary as that of the leaves which unwrap from around the blossom
buds of our fruit trees. It is true that the parallel cannot be fully
maintained, as the leaves which make up the cabbage head do not to an
equal degree unfold (particularly is this true of hard heads); yet they
exhibit a vitality of their own, which is seen in the deeper green color
the outer leaves soon attain, and the change from tenderness to
toughness in their structure: I think, therefore, that the degree of
failure in the parallel may be measured by the difference between a
higher and a lower form of organic life.
Some advocate the economy of cutting off a large portion of the heads
when cabbages are set out for seed to use as food for stock. There is
certainly a great temptation, standing amid acres of large, solid, heads
in the early spring months, when green food of all kinds is scarce, to
cut and use such an immense amount of rich food, which, to the
inexperienced eye, appears to be utterly wasted if left to decay, dry,
and fall to the ground; but, for the reason given above, I have never
done so. It is possible that large heads may bear trimming to a degree
without injury to the seed crop; yet I should consider this an
experiment, and one to be tried with a good deal of caution.
SELECTING THE SOIL.
In some of the best cabbage-growing sections of the country, until
within a comparatively few years it was the very general belief that
cabbage would not do well on upland. Accordingly the cabbage patch would
be found on the lowest tillage land of the farm. No doubt, the lowest
soil being the richer from a gradual accumulation of the wash from the
upland, when manure was but sparingly used, cabbage would thrive better
there than elsewhere,--and not, as was generally held, because that
vegetable needed more moisture than any other crop. Cabbage can be
raised with success on any good corn land, provided such land is well
manured; and there is no more loss in seasons of drouth on such land
than there is in seasons of excessive moisture on the lower tillage land
of the farm. I wish I could preach a very loud sermon to all my farmer
friends on the great value of liberal manuring to carry crops
successfully through the effects of a severe drouth. Crops on soil
precisely alike, with but a wall to separate them, will, in a very dry
season, present a striking difference,--the one being in fine vigor, and
the other "suffering from drouth," as the owner will tell you; but, in
reality, from want of food.
The smaller varieties of cabbage will thrive well on either light or
strong soil, but the largest drumheads do best on strong soil. For the
_Brassica_ family, including cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, etc.,
there is no soil so suitable as freshly turned sod, provided the surface
is well fined by the harrow; it is well to have as stout a crop of
clover or grass, growing on this sod, when turned under, as possible,
and I incline to the belief that it would be a judicious investment to
start a thick growth of these by the application of guano to the surface
sufficiently long before turning the sod to get an extra growth of the
clover or grass. If the soil be very sandy in character, I would advise
that the variety planted be the Winnigstadt, which, in my experience, is
unexcelled for making a hard head under almost any conditions, however
unpropitious. Should the soil be naturally very wet it should be
underdrained, or stump foot will be very likely to appear, which is
death to all success.
PREPARING THE SOIL.
Should the soil be a heavy clay, a deep fall ploughing is best, that the
frosts of winter may disintegrate it; and should the plan be to raise an
early crop, this end will be promoted by fall ploughing, on any soil, as
the land will thereby be made drier in early spring. In New England the
soil for cabbages should be ploughed as deep as the subsoil, and the
larger drumheads should be planted only on the deepest soil. If the
season should prove a favorable one, a good crop of cabbage may be grown
on sod broken up immediately after a crop of hay has been taken from it,
provided plenty of fine manure is harrowed in. One great risk here is
from the dry weather that usually prevails at that season, preventing
the prompt germination of the seed, or rooting of the plants. It is
prudent in such a case to have a good stock of plants, that such as die
may be promptly replaced. It is wise to plant the seed for these a week
earlier than the main crop, for when transplanted to fill the vacant
places it will take about a week for them to get well rooted.
The manure may be spread on the surface of either sod or stubble land
and ploughed under, or be spread on the surface after ploughing and
thoroughly worked into the soil by the wheel harrow or cultivator. On
ploughed sod I have found nothing so satisfactory as the class of wheel
harrows, which not only cut the manure up fine and work it well under,
but by the same operation cut and pulverize the turf until the sod may
be left not over an inch in thickness. To do the work thus thoroughly
requires a yoke of oxen or a pair of stout horses. All large stones and
large pieces of turf that are torn up and brought to the surface should
be carted off before making the hills.
THE MANURE.
Any manure but hog manure for cabbage,--barn manure, rotten kelp,
night-soil, guano, fertilizers, wood ashes, fish, salt, glue waste, hen
manure, slaughter-house manure. I have used all of these, and found
them all good when rightly applied. If pure hog manure is used it is apt
to produce that corpulent enlargement of the roots known in different
localities as "stump foot," "underground head," "finger and thumb;" but
I have found barn manure on which hogs have run, two hogs to each
animal, excellent. The cabbage is the rankest of feeders, and to perfect
the larger sort a most liberal allowance of the richest composts is
required. To grow the smaller varieties either barn-yard manure, guano,
fertilizers, or wood ashes, if the soil be in good condition, will
answer; though the richer and more abundant the manure the larger are
the cabbages, and the earlier the crop will mature.
To perfect the large varieties of drumhead,--by which I mean to make
them grow to the greatest size possible,--I want a strong compost of
barn-yard manure, with night-soil and muck or fish-waste, and, if
possible, rotten kelp. A compost into which night-soil enters as a
component is best made by first covering a plot of ground, of easy
access, with soil or muck that has been exposed to a winter's frost, to
the depth of about eighteen inches, and raising around this a rim about
three feet in height, and thickness. Into this the night-soil is poured
from carts built for the purpose, until the receptacle is about
two-thirds full. Barn manure is now added, being dropped around and
covering the outer rim, and, if the supply is sufficient, on the top of
the heap also, on which it can be carted after cold weather sets in.
Early in spring, the entire mass should be pitched over, thoroughly
broken up with the bar and pick where frozen, and the frozen masses
thrown on the surface. In pitching over the mass, work the rim in
towards the middle of the heap. After the frozen lumps have thawed, give
the heap another pitching over, aiming to mix all the materials
thoroughly together, and make the entire mass as fine as possible. A
covering of sand, thrown over the heap, before the last pitching, will
help fine it.
To produce a good crop of cabbages, with a compost of this quality, from
six to twelve cords will be required to the acre. If the land is in good
heart, by previous high cultivation, or the soil is naturally very
strong, six cords will give a fair crop of the small varieties; while,
with the same conditions, from nine to twelve cords to the acre will be
required to perfect the largest variety grown, the Marblehead Mammoth
Drumhead.
Of the other kinds of manure named above, I will treat farther under the
head of:
HOW TO APPLY THE MANURE.
The manure is sometimes applied wholly in the hill, at other times
partly broadcast and partly in the hill. If the farmer desires to make
the utmost use of his manure for that season, it will be best to put
most of it into the hill, particularly if his supply runs rather short;
but if he desires to leave his land in good condition for next year's
crop, he had better use part of it broadcast. My own practice is to use
all my rich compost broadcast, and depend on guano, fertilizers, or hen
manure in the hill. Let all guano, if at all lumpy, like the Peruvian,
be sifted, and let all the hard lumps be reduced by pounding, until the
largest pieces shall not be larger than half a pea, before it is
brought upon the ground. My land being ready, the compost worked under
and the rows marked out, I select three trusty hands who can be relied
upon to follow faithfully my directions in applying so dangerous manure
as guano is in careless or ignorant hands; one takes a bucket of it,
and, if for large cabbage, drops as much as he can readily close in his
shut hand, where each hill is to be; if for small sorts, then about half
that quantity, spreading it over a circle about a foot in diameter; the
second man follows with a pronged hoe, or better yet, a six-tined fork,
with which he works the guano well into the soil, first turning it three
or four inches under the surface, and then stirring the soil _very
thoroughly_ with the hoe or fork. Unless the guano (and this is also
true of most fertilizers) is faithfully mixed up with the soil, the seed
will not vegetate. Give the second man about an hour the start, and then
let the third man follow with the seed. Of other fertilizers, I use
about half as much again as of guano to each hill, and of hen manure a
heaping handful, after it has been finely broken up, and, if moist,
slightly mixed with dry earth. When salt is used, it should not be
depended on exclusively, but be used in connection with other manures,
at the rate of from ten to fifteen bushels to the acre, applied
broadcast over the ground, or thoroughly mixed with the manure before
that is applied; if dissolved in the manure, better yet. Salt itself is
not a manure. Its principal office is to change other materials into
plant food. Fish and glue waste are exceedingly powerful manures, very
rich in ammonia, and, if used the first season, they should be in
compost. It is best to handle fish waste, such as heads, entrails,
backbones, and liver waste, precisely like night soil. "Porgy cheese,"
or "chum," the refuse, after pressing out the oil from menhaden and
halibut heads, and sometimes sold extensively for manure, is best
prepared for use by composting it with muck or loam, layer with layer,
at the rate of a barrel to every foot and a half, cord measure, of soil.
As soon as it shows some heat, turn it, and repeat the process, two or
three times, until it is well decomposed, when apply. Another excellent
way to use fish waste is to compost it with barn manure, in the open
fields. It will be best to have six inches of soil under the heap, and
not layer the fish with the lower half of the manure, for it strikes
down. Glue waste is a very coarse, lumpy manure, and requires a great
deal of severe manipulation, if it is to be applied the first season. A
better way is to compost it with soil, layer with layer, having each
layer about a foot in thickness, and so allow it to remain over until
the next season, before using. This will decompose most of the straw,
and break down the hard, tough lumps. In applying this to the crop, most
of it had better be used broadcast, as it is apt, at best, to be rather
too coarse and concentrated to be used liberally directly in the hill.
Slaughter-house manure should be treated much like glue manure.
Mr. Proctor, of Beverly, has raised cabbage successfully on strong clay
soil, by spreading a compost of muck containing fish waste, in which the
fish is well decomposed, at the rate of two tons of the fish to an acre
of land, after plowing, and then, having made his furrows at the right
distance apart, harrowing the land thoroughly crossways with the
furrows. The result was, besides mixing the manure thoroughly with the
soil, to land an extra proportion of it in the furrows, which was
equivalent to manuring in the drill.
Cabbage can be raised on fertilizers alone. I have raised some crops in
this way; but have been led to plow in from four to six cords of good
manure to the acre, and then use from five hundred to a thousand pounds
of some good fertilizer in the hill. The reason I prefer to use a
portion of the cabbage food in the form of manure, is, that I have
noticed that when the attempt is made to raise the larger drumhead
varieties on fertilizers only, the cabbages, just as the heads are well
formed, are apt to come nearly to a standstill. I explain this on the
supposition that they exhaust most of the fertilizer, or some one of the
ingredients that enter into it, during the earlier stage of growth;
perhaps from the fact that the food is in so easily digestible
condition, they use an over share of it, and the fact that those fed on
fertilizers only, tend to grow longer stumped than usual, appears to
give weight to this opinion. Though any good fertilizer is good for
cabbage, yet I prefer those compounded on the basis of an analysis of
the composition of the plants; they should contain the three
ingredients, nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid, in the proportion of
six, seven, five, taking them in the order in which I have written them.
MAKING THE HILLS AND PLANTING THE SEED.
The idea is quite prevalent that cabbages will not head up well except
the plants are started in beds, and then transplanted into the hills
where they are to mature. This is an error, so far as it applies to the
Northern States,--the largest and most experienced cultivators of
cabbage in New England usually dropping the seed directly where the
plant is to stand, unless they are first started under glass, or the
piece of land to be planted cannot be prepared in season to enable the
farmer to put his seed directly in the hill and yet give the cabbage
time sufficient to mature. Where the climate is unpropitious, or the
quantity of manure applied is insufficient, it is possible that
transplanting may promote heading. The advantages of planting directly
in the hill, are a saving of time, avoiding the risks incidental to
transplanting, and having all the piece start alike; for, when
transplanted, many die and have to be replaced, while some hesitate much
longer than others before starting, thus making a want of uniformity in
the maturing of the crop. There is, also, this advantage, there being
several plants in each hill, the cut-worm has to depredate pretty
severely before he really injures the piece; again, should the seed not
vegetate in any of the hills, every farmer will appreciate the advantage
of having healthy plants growing so near at hand that they can be
transferred to the vacant spaces with their roots so undisturbed that
their growth is hardly checked. In addition to the labor of
transplanting saved by this plan, the great check that plants always
receive when so treated is prevented, and also the extra risks that
occur should a season of drouth follow. It is the belief of some
farmers, that plants growing where the seed was planted are less liable
to be destroyed by the cut-worm than those that have been transplanted.
When planning to raise late cabbage on upland, I sow a portion of the
seed on a moist spot, or, in case a portion of the land is moist, I
plant the hills on such land with an extra quantity of seed, that I may
have enough plants for the whole piece, should the weather prove to be
too dry for the seed to vegetate on the dryer portions of it. It is wise
to sow these extra plants about a week earlier, for they will be put
back about a week by transplanting them.
Some of our best farmers drill their seed in with a sowing machine, such
as is used for onions, carrots, and other vegetable crops. This is a
very expeditious way, and has the advantage of leaving the plants in
rows instead of bunches, as in the hill system, and thus enables the hoe
to do most of the work of thinning. It has also this advantage: each
plant being by itself can be left much longer before thinning, and yet
not grow long in the stump, thus making it available for transplanting,
or for sale in the market, for a longer period.
The usual way of preparing the hills is to strike out furrows with a
small, one-horse plough, as far apart as the rows are to be. As it is
very important that the rows should be as straight as practicable, it is
a good plan to run back once in each furrow, particularly on sod land
where the plough will be apt to catch in the turf and jump out of line.
A manure team follows, containing the dressing for the hills, which has
previously been pitched over and beaten up until all the ingredients are
fine and well mixed. This team is so driven, if possible, as to avoid
running in the furrows. Two or three hands follow with forks or shovels,
pitching the manure into the furrows at the distance apart that has been
determined on for the hills. How far apart these are to be will depend
on the varieties, from eighteen inches to four feet. On land that has
been very highly manured for a series of years, cabbage can be planted
nearer than on land that has been under the plow but a few years. For
the distance apart for different varieties see farther on. The manure is
levelled with hoes, a little soil is drawn over it, and a slight stamp
with the back of the hoe is given to level this soil, and, at the same
time, to mark the hill. The planter follows with seed in a tin box, or
any small vessel having a broad bottom, and taking a small pinch between
the thumb and forefinger he gives a slight scratch with the remaining
fingers of the same hand, and dropping in about half a dozen seed covers
them half an inch deep with a sweep of the hand, and packs the earth by
a gentle pat with the open palm to keep the moisture in the ground and
thus promote the vegetation of the seed. With care a quarter of a pound
of seed will plant an acre, when dropped directly in the hills; but half
a pound is the common allowance, as there is usually some waste from
spilling, while most laborers plant with a free hand.
The soil over the hills being very light and porous, careless hands are
apt to drop the seed too deep. Care should be taken not to drop the seed
all in one spot, but to scatter them over a surface of two or three
inches square, that each plant may have room to develop without crowding
its neighbors.
If the seed is planted in a line instead of in a mass the plants can be
left longer before the final thinning without danger of growing tall and
weak.
If the seed is to be drilled in, it will be necessary to scatter the
manure all along the furrows, then cover with a plough, roughly leveling
with a rake.
Should the compost applied to the hills be very concentrated, it will
be apt to produce stump foot; it will, therefore, be safest in such
cases to hollow out the middle with the corner of the hoe, or draw the
hoe through and fill in with earth, that the roots of the young plants
may not come in direct contact with the compost as soon as they begin to
push.
When guano or phosphates are used in the hills it will be well to mark
out the rows with a plough, and then, where each hill is to be, fill in
the soil level to the surface with a hoe, before applying them. I have,
in a previous paragraph, given full instructions how to apply these. Hen
manure, if moist, should be broken up very fine, and be mixed with some
dry earth to prevent it from again lumping together, and the mixture
applied in sufficient quantity to make an equivalent of a heaping
handful of pure hen manure to each hill. Any liquid manure is excellent
for the cabbage crop; but it should be well diluted, or it will be
likely to produce stump foot.
Cabbage seed of almost all varieties are nearly round in form, but are
not so spherical as turnip seed. I note, however, that seed of the
Savoys are nearly oval. In color they are light brown when first
gathered, but gradually turn dark brown if not gathered too early. An
ounce contains nearly ten thousand seed, but should not be relied upon
for many over two thousand good plants, and these are available for
about as many hills only when raised in beds and transplanted; when
dropped directly in the hills it will take not far from eight ounces of
the larger sorts to plant an acre, and of the smaller cabbage rather
more than this. Cabbage seed when well cured and kept in close bags will
retain their vitality four or five years; old gardeners prefer seed of
all the cabbage family two or three years old.
When the plan is to raise the young plants in beds to be transplanted,
the ground selected for the beds should be of rich soil; this should be
very thoroughly dug, and the surface worked and raked very fine, every
stone and lump of earth being removed. Now sprinkle the seed evenly over
the bed and gently rake in just under the surface, compacting the soil
by pressure with a board. As soon as the young plants appear, sprinkle
them with air-slaked lime. Transplant when three or four inches high,
being very careful not to let the plants get tall and weak.
For late cabbage, in the latitude of Boston, to have cabbages ready for
market about the first of November, the Marblehead Mammoth should be
planted the 20th of May, other late drumheads from June 1st to June
12th, provided the plants are not to be transplanted; otherwise a week
earlier. In those localities where the growing season is later, the seed
should be planted proportionally later.
CARE OF THE YOUNG PLANTS.
In four or five days, if the weather is propitious, the young plants
will begin to break ground, presenting at the surface two leaves, which
together make nearly a square, like the first leaves of turnips or
radishes. As soon as the third leaf is developed, go over the piece, and
boldly thin out the plants. Wherever they are very thick, pull a mass of
them with the fingers and thumb, being careful to fill up the hole made
with fine earth. After the fourth leaf is developed, go over the piece
again and thin still more; you need specially to guard against a
slender, weak growth, which will happen when the plants are too
crowded. In thinning, leave the short-stumped plants, and leave them as
far apart in the hill as possible, that they may not shade each other,
or so interfere in growing as to make long stumps. If there is any
market for young plants, thousands can be sold from an acre when the
seed are planted in the hill; but in doing this bear in mind that your
principal object is to raise cabbages, and to succeed in this the young
plants must on no account be allowed to stand so long together in the
hills as to crowd each other, making a tall, weak, slender
growth,--getting "long-legged," as the farmers call it.
If the manure in any of the hills is too strong, the fact will be known
by its effects on the plants, which will be checked in their growth, and
be of a darker green color than the healthy plants. Gently pull away the
earth from the roots of such with the fingers, and draw around fresh
earth; or, what is as well or better, transplant a healthy plant just on
the edge of the hill. When the plants are finger high they are of a good
size to transplant into such hills as have missed, or to market. When
transplanting, select a rainy day, if possible, and do not begin until
sufficient rain has fallen to moisten the earth around the roots, which
will make it more likely to adhere to them when taken up. Take up the
young plants by running the finger or a trowel under them; put these
into a flat basket or box, and in transplanting set them to the same
depth they originally grew, pressing the earth a little about the roots.
If it is necessary to do the transplanting in a dry spell, as usually
happens, select the latter part of the afternoon, if practicable, and,
making holes with a dibble, or any pointed stick an inch and a half in
diameter, fill these holes, a score or more at a time, with water; and
as soon as the water is about soaked away, beginning with the hole first
filled, set out your plants. The evaporation of the moisture below the
roots will keep them moist until they get a hold. Cabbage plants have
great tenacity of life, and will rally and grow when they appear to be
dead; the leaves may all die, and dry up like hay, but if the stump
stands erect and the unfolded leaf at the top of the stump is alive, the
plant will usually survive. When the plants are quite large, they may be
used successfully by cutting or breaking off the larger leaves. Some
advocate wilting the plants before transplanting, piling them in the
cellar a few days before setting them out, to toughen them and get a new
setting of fine roots; others challenge their vigor by making it a rule
to do all transplanting under the heat of mid-day. I think there is not
much of reason in this latter course. The young plants can be set out
almost as fast as a man can walk, by holding the roots close to one side
of the hole made by the dibble, and at the same moment pressing earth
against them with the other hand.
PROTECTING THE PLANTS FROM THEIR ENEMIES.
As soon as they have broken through the soil, an enemy awaits them in
the small black insect commonly known as the cabbage or turnip fly,
beetle, or flea. This insect, though so small as to appear to the eye as
a black dot, is very voracious and surprisingly active. He apparently
feeds on the juice of the young plant, perforating it with small holes
the size of a pin point. He is so active when disturbed that his
motions cannot be followed by the eye, and his sense of danger is so
keen that only by cautiously approaching the plant can he be seen at
all. The delay of a single day in protecting the young plants from his
ravages will sometimes be the destruction of nearly the entire piece.
Wood ashes and air-slaked lime, sprinkled upon the plants while the
leaves are moist from either rain or dew, afford almost complete
protection. The lime or ashes should be applied as soon as the plant can
be seen, for then, when they are in their tenderest condition, the fly
is most destructive. I am not certain that the alkaline nature of these
affords the protection, or whether a mere covering by common dust might
not answer equally well. Should the covering be washed off by rain,
apply it anew immediately after the rain has ceased, and so continue to
keep the young plants covered until the third or fourth leaves are
developed when they will have become too tough to serve as food for this
insect enemy.
A new enemy much dreaded by all cabbage raisers will begin to make his
appearance about the time the flea disappears, known as the cut-worm.
This worm is of a dusky brown color, with a dark colored head, and
varies in size up to about two inches in length. He burrows in the
ground just below the surface, is slow of motion, and does his
mischievous work at night, gnawing off the young plants close at the
surface of the ground. This enemy is hard to battle with. If the patch
be small, these worms can be scratched out of their hiding places by
pulling the earth carefully away the following morning for a few inches
around the stump of the plant destroyed, when the rascals will usually
be found half coiled together. Dropping a little wood ashes around the
plants close to the stumps is one of the best of remedies; its alkaline
properties burning his nose I presume. A tunnel of paper put around the
stump but not touching it, and sunk just below the surface, is
recommended as efficacious; and from the habits of the worm I should
think it would prove so. Perpendicular holes four inches deep and an
inch in diameter is said to catch and hold them as effectively as do the
pit falls of Africa the wild animals. Late planted cabbage will suffer
little or none from this pest, as he disappears about the middle of
June. Some seasons they are remarkably numerous, making it necessary to
replant portions of the cabbage patch several times over. I have heard
of as many as twenty being dug at different times the same season out of
one cabbage hill. The farmer who tilled that patch earned his dollars.
When the cabbage has a stump the size of a pipe stem it is beyond the
destructive ravages of the cut-worm, and should it escape stump foot has
usually quite a period of growth free from the attacks of enemies.
Should the season prove unpropitious and the plant be checked in its
growth, it will be apt to become "lousy," as the farmers term it,
referring to its condition when attacked by a small green insect known
as aphidæ, which preys upon it in myriads; when this is the case the
leaves lose their bright green, turn of a bluish cast, the leaf stocks
lose somewhat of their supporting powers, the leaves curl up into
irregular shapes, and the lower layer turns black and drops off, while
the ground under the plant appears covered with the casts or bodies of
the insects as with a white powder. When in this condition the plants
are in a very bad way.
Considering the circumstances under which this insect appears, usually
in a very dry season, I hold that it is rather the product than the
cause of disease, as with the bark louse on our apple-trees; as a remedy
I advocate sprinkling the plants with air-slaked lime, watering, if
possible, and a frequent and thorough stirring of the soil with the
cultivator and hoe. The better the opportunities the cabbage have to
develop themselves through high manuring, sufficient moisture, good
drainage, and thorough cultivation, the less liable they are to be
"lousy." As the season advances there will sometimes be found patches
eaten out of the leaves, leaving nothing but the skeleton of leaf veins;
an examination will show a band of caterpillars of a light green color
at work, who feed in a compact mass, oftentimes a square, with as much
regularity as though under the best of military discipline. The readiest
way to dispose of them is to break off the leaf and crush them under
foot. The common large red caterpillar occasionally preys on the plants,
eating large holes in the leaves, especially about the head. When the
cabbage plot is bordered by grass land, in seasons when grasshoppers are
plenty, they will frequently destroy the outer rows, puncturing the
leaves with small holes, and feeding on them until little besides their
skeletons remain. In isolated locations rabbits and other vegetable
feeders sometimes commit depredations. The snare and the shot-gun are
the remedy for these.
Other insects that prey upon the cabbage tribe, in their caterpillar
state, are the cabbage moth, white-line, brown-eyed moth, large white
garden butterfly, white and green veined butterfly. All of these produce
caterpillars, which can be destroyed either by application of
air-slaked lime, or by removing the leaves infested and crushing the
intruders under foot. The cabbage-fly, father-long-legs, the millipedes,
the blue cabbage-fly, brassy cabbage-flea, and two or three other insect
enemies are mentioned by McIntosh as infesting the cabbage fields of
England; also three species of fungi known as white rust, mildew, and
_cylindrosporium concentricum_; these last are destroyed by the
sprinkling of air-slaked lime on the leaves. In this country, along the
sea coast of the northern section, in open-ground cultivation, there is
comparatively but little injury done by these marauders, which are the
cause of so much annoyance and loss to our English cousins.
THE GREEN WORM.
A new and troublesome enemy to the cabbage tribe which has made its
appearance within a few years, and spread rapidly over a large section
of the country, is a green worm, _Anthomia brassicæ_. This pest infests
the cabbage tribe at all stages of its growth; it is believed to have
been introduced into this country from Europe, by the way of Canada,
where it was probably brought in a lot of cabbage. It is the caterpillar
of a white butterfly with black spots on its wings. In Europe, this
butterfly is preyed on by two or more parasites, which keep it somewhat
in check; but its remarkably rapid increase in this country, causing a
wail of lamentation to rise in a single season from the cabbage growers
over areas of tens of thousands of square miles, proved that when it
first appeared it had reached this country without its attendant
parasites.
Besides this green worm, there are found in Europe four varieties of
caterpillar variously marked, the caterpillars from all of which make
great havoc among the cabbage tribe.
The most effective destroyer of this, and about every other insect pest,
is what is known as the "Kerosene Emulsion." This is made by churning
common kerosene with milk or soap until it is diffused through the
liquid.
Take one quart of kerosene oil and pour it into a pint of hot water in
which an ounce of common soap has been dissolved; churn this briskly
while hot (a force pump is excellent for this), and, when well mixed,
which will be in a few minutes, it will be of a creamy consistency; mix
one quart to ten or twelve of cold water, and spray or sprinkle it over
the plants with a force-pump syringe or a whisk broom.
Another remedy is pyrethrum. Use that which is fresh; either blowing it
on in a dry state with a bellows, wherever the worm appears, or using it
diluted, at the rate of a tablespoonful to two gallons of water;
applying as with the kerosene emulsion. Mr. A. S. Fuller, who is good
authority on garden matters, succeeds by applying tar-water. Place a
couple of quarts of coal tar in a barrel and fill with water; let it
stand forty-eight hours, then dip off, and apply with a watering-pot, or
syringe.
Chickens allowed to run freely among the growing plants, the hen being
confined in a movable coop, if once attracted to them will fatten on
them. This remedy might answer very well for small plots. Large areas in
cabbage, in proportion to their size are, as a rule, far less injured by
insect enemies than small patches. The worm is of late years less
troublesome in the North than formerly.
CLUB OR STUMP FOOT AND MAGGOT.
The great dread of every cabbage grower is a disease of the branching
roots, producing a bunchy, gland-like enlargement, known in different
localities under the name of club foot, stump foot, underground head,
finger and thumb. The result is a check in the ascent of the sap, which
causes a defective vitality. There are two theories as to the origin of
club foot; one that it is a disease caused by poor soil, bad
cultivation, and unsuitable manures; the other that the injury is done
by an insect enemy, _Curculio contractus_. It is held by some that the
maggots at the root are the progeny of the cabbage flea. This I doubt.
This insect, "piercing the skin of the root, deposits its eggs in the
holes, lives during a time on the sap of the plant, and then escapes and
buries itself for a time in the soil."
If the wart, or gland-like excrescence, is seen while transplanting,
throw all such plants away, unless your supply is short; in such case,
carefully trim off all the diseased portions with a sharp knife. If the
disease is in the growing crop, it will be made evident by the drooping
of the leaves under the mid-day sun, leaves of diseased plants drooping
more than those of healthy ones, while they will usually have a bluer
cast. Should this disease show itself, set the cultivator going
immediately, and follow with the hoe, drawing up fresh earth around the
plants, which will encourage them to form new fibrous roots; should they
do this freely, the plants will be saved, as the attacks of the insect
are usually confined to the coarse, branching roots. Should the disease
prevail as late as when the plants have reached half their growth, the
chances are decidedly against raising a paying crop.
When the land planted is too wet, or the manure in the hill is too
strong, this dreaded disease is liable to be found on any soil; but it
is most likely to manifest itself on soils that have been previously
cropped with cabbage, turnip, or some other member of the Brassica
family.
Farmers find that, as a rule, _it is not safe to follow cabbage, ruta
baga, or any of the Brassica family, with cabbage, unless three or four
years have intervened between the crops_; and I have known an instance
in growing the Marblehead Mammoth, where, though five years had
intervened, that portion of the piece occupied by the previous crop
could be distinctly marked off by the presence of club-foot.
Singular as it may appear, old gardens are an exception to this rule.
While it is next to impossible to raise, in old gardens, a fair turnip,
free from club-foot, cabbages may be raised year after year on the same
soil with impunity, or, at least, with but trifling injury from that
disease. This seems to prove, contrary to English authority, that
club-foot in the turnip tribe is the effect of a different cause from
the same disease in the cabbage family.
There is another position taken by Stephens in his "Book of the Farm,"
which facts seem to disprove. He puts forth the theory that "all such
diseases arise from poverty of the soil, either from want of manure when
the soil is naturally poor, or rendered effete by over-cropping." There
is a farm on a neck of land belonging to this town (Marblehead, Mass.),
which has peculiar advantages for collecting sea kelp and sea moss, and
these manures are there used most liberally, particularly in the
cultivation of cabbage, from eight to twelve cords of rotten kelp, which
is stronger than barn manure, and more suitable food for cabbage, being
used to the acre. A few years ago, on a change of tenants, the new
incumbent heavily manured a piece for cabbage, and planted it; but, as
the season advanced, stump-foot developed in every cabbage on one side
of the piece, while all the remainder were healthy. Upon inquiry, he
learned that, by mistake, he had overlapped the cabbage plot of last
season just so far as the stump-foot extended. In this instance, it
could not have been that the cabbage suffered for want of food; for, not
only was the piece heavily manured that year and the year previous, but
it had been liberally manured through a series of years, and, to a large
extent, with the manure which, of all others, the cabbage tribe delight
in, rotten kelp and sea mosses. I have known other instances where soil,
naturally quite strong, and kept heavily manured for a series of years,
has shown stump-foot when cabbage were planted, with intervals of two
and three years between. My theory is, that the _mere presence of the
cabbage_ causes stump-foot on succeeding crops grown on the same soil.
This is proved by the fact that where a piece of land in grass, close
adjoining a piece of growing cabbage, had been used for stripping them
for market, when this was broken up the next season and planted to
cabbage, stump-foot appeared only on that portion where the waste leaves
fell the year previous. I have another instance to the same point, told
me by an observing farmer, that, on a piece of sod land, on which he ran
his cultivator the year previous, when turning his horse every time he
had cultivated a row, he had stump-footed cabbage the next season just
as far as that cultivator went, dragging, of course, a few leaves and a
little earth from the cabbage piece with it. Still, though the mere
presence of cabbage causes stump-foot, it is a fact, that, under certain
conditions, cabbage can be grown on the same piece of land year after
year successfully, with but very little trouble from stump-foot. In this
town (Marblehead), though, as I have stated, we cannot, on our farms,
follow cabbage with cabbage, even with the highest of manuring and
cultivation, yet in the gardens of the town, on the same kind of soil
(and our soil is green stone and syenite, not naturally containing
lime), there are instances where cabbage has been successfully followed
by cabbage, on the same spot, for a quarter of a century and more. In
the garden of an aged citizen of this town, cabbages have been raised
_on the same spot of land_ for over half a century.
The cause of stump foot cannot, therefore, be found in the poverty of
the soil, either from want of manure or its having been rendered effete
from over cropping. It is evident that by long cultivation soils
gradually have diffused through them something that proves inimical to
the disease that produces stump foot. I will suggest as probable that
the protection is afforded by the presence of some alkali that old
gardens are constantly acquiring through house waste which is always
finding its way there, particularly the slops from the sink, which
abound in potash. This is rendered further probable from the fact given
by Mr. Peter Henderson, that, on soils in this vicinity, naturally
abounding in lime, cabbage can be raised year following year with almost
immunity from stump foot. He ascribes this to the effects of lime in
the soil derived from marine shells, and recommends that lime from bones
be used to secure the same protection; but the lime that enters into the
composition of marine shells is for the most part carbonate of lime,
whereas the greater portion of that which enters into the composition of
bones is phosphate of lime. Common air-slaked lime is almost pure
carbonate of lime, and hence comes nearer to the composition of marine
shells than lime from bones, and, being much cheaper, would appear to be
preferable.
An able farmer told me that by using wood ashes liberally he could
follow with cabbage the next season on the same piece. One experiment of
my own in this direction did not prove successful, where ashes at the
rate of two hundred bushels to the acre were used; and I have an
impression that I have read of a like want of success after quite
liberal applications of lime. In a more recent experiment, on a gravelly
loam on one of my seed farms in Middleton, Mass., where two hundred
bushels of unleached ashes were used per acre, three-fourths broadcast,
I have had complete success, raising as good a crop as I ever grew the
second year on the same land, without a single stump foot on half an
acre. Still, it remains evident, I think, that nature prevents stump
foot by the diffusing of alkalies through the soil, and I mistrust that
the reason why we sometimes fail with the same remedies is that we have
them mixed, rather than intimately combined, with the particles of soil.
The roots of young plants are sometimes attacked by a maggot, though
there is no club root present. A remedy for this is said to be in the
burying of a small piece of bi-sulphide of carbon within a few inches
of the diseased plant. I have never tried it, but know that there is no
better insecticide.