Cabbages and Cauliflowers: How to Grow Them | Page 5

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