Cabbages and Cauliflowers: How to Grow Them | Page 7

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