Cabbages and Cauliflowers: How to Grow Them | Page 4

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,