The Cabbage is a native of Europe, and grows wild along the sea coasts of England. The wild plant lives for two years, has fleshy leaves, and is so different from the cabbages of the garden as not to be recognized as their parent. Under cultivation this one species of plant (Brassica oleracea[1]) has produced the Savoy, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, borecole,[2] etc. A more wonderful plant and a more useful one is seldom found in the whole range of the vegetable kingdom. The Romans did much to extend the culture of the cabbage. In Scotland it was not generally known until the time of Cromwell. Much improvement has been made in American sorts of cabbages within the past fifty years. In the wild state the cabbage has a hard, woody stalk, but the fine specimens in market have only a small stem, bearing a large, compact head, of closely folded leaves.
The first essential in the successful growing of cabbage is the right kind of soil. It should be a sandy loam, with a gravelly, and not a clayey subsoil. Soil that is naturally wet must be thoroughly underdrained before being devoted to cabbage growing. The importance of an abundance of well rotted manure can not be too fully impressed upon the mind of any person contemplating the production of excellent cabbages. Much that may be here said concerning the preparation of the soil for growing cabbages applies with equal force to the other vegetables treated in this article. Earliness is one of the leading points to be gained in raising most garden crops. It is the man with the first load of cabbages that gets the best price in the market. There is a great deal of stress to be placed upon the proper selection of seed, but seed is not all. The young plants of the earliest sorts must be fed, and they require this food at an early stage in their growth, when chemical changes are only slowly going on in the soil. In other words, early crops need a far larger amount of manure for their satisfactory growth than crops started in midsummer, when the soil is rapidly yielding up its food elements. Early crops need to grow in cool spring weather, and therefore should be abundantly supplied with food in an available form. Mr. Gregory says in his excellent pamphlet on “How to Grow Cabbages,” “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, phosphates, or hen manure in the hill.” This view of heavy manuring is confirmed by Mr. Henderson, in his “Farm and Garden Topics,” when he says: “For the early cabbage crop it should always be spread on broadcast, and in quantity not less than one hundred cart loads or seventy-five tons to the acre.… After plowing in the manure, and before the ground is harrowed, our best growers in the vicinity of New York sow from four to five hundred pounds of guano, or bone dust, and then harrow it deeply in.” The best sorts of cabbages for the early crop are: The Jersey Wakefield, which has a head of medium size, close, and of a deep green color; Early York, smaller, but quite early; Early Winningstadt, later, but an excellent sort. Among the best late kinds may be named: Large Flat Dutch, American Drumhead, Drumhead Savoy, and the Red Dutch. The last mentioned is largely used in pickling.
The young plants are obtained from seeds in various ways, determined by the numbers desired. When large quantities are needed for the early crop, the seed is sown in a hot-bed or green-house, about February 1st, for the latitude of New York City, and transplanted into other heated beds near March 1st. In this way fine plants may be obtained by the first of April. Many of the large cabbage growers prepare the soil, mark it in rows, and drop the seed in the hills where the plants are to grow. In this way much labor is saved, and there is the advantage of having several plants in each hill, to guard against losses from cut-worms. Cabbages quickly respond to good culture, and repay in large measure for every stirring of the soil, either with the hoe or the horse cultivator.
The most troublesome insect enemy is probably the Cabbage-worm, which in some localities has destroyed the whole crop. The mature insect deposits its eggs upon the under side of the cabbage leaves. These eggs soon hatch, and the green caterpillars begin their destructive work. No poisonous substances can be applied without endangering the lives of those who may afterward eat the cabbage. Hot water (160 degrees) has proved effective in killing the worms, while not doing injury to the plants. Flea-beetles have done some damage, as also the Cabbage-bug. After the crop is grown the cabbages may be kept by burying them in trenches, heads down. Three facts need to be kept in mind: Repeated freezing and thawing cause rot; excessive moisture also induces decay; and a dry air withers the head and destroys the flavor. About a foot of earth is usually a sufficient covering.
Cabbage in the many forms it is presented upon the table is a most wholesome and agreeable article of food. The farmer’s garden is not complete without a full crop of cabbages. Any heads that are not needed for the family table can be fed with profit to the farm live stock. Poultry in particular, need some green food daily through the winter season, and a cabbage now and then satisfies this natural craving.
Turnips.—The garden turnips belong to the same genus (Brassica) with the cabbages, and are therefore closely related to them. The turnip is supposed to be a native of England and other parts of Europe. It is not known when this plant was first introduced into cultivation, and its wild state is unknown. At the present time it forms one of the prominent crops in all countries adapted to its growth.
The remarks made under the subject of cabbages concerning the free use of manure need not be repeated here. Turnips grow freely upon a rich and mellow soil, kept clean of all weeds. They do not require as fertile a soil as cabbages, and when the earth is very rich, there is sometimes an excessive growth of tops, without a corresponding development of the roots. It is not necessary to say that cabbages are grown for their many thick leaves, while turnips are raised for their roots. Plants as a whole have many places for the storing up of nourishment. Sometimes it is in the stems, as in the potato; in other cases the leaves or roots serve as a store-house of accumulated substance. The plant makes these deposits, to be drawn upon at some future time, either for further growth of the same plant or for the early development of another. The root crops, for example, are naturally plants of two year’s duration. The first season is spent in gathering and storing up substance in a large root. During the following year the starch, sugar, oil, etc., is withdrawn and used in the production of a flower-stalk, upon which the crop of seeds is finally borne, and after this the plant dies.
Turnips are mainly grown as a second crop, following early potatoes, etc. The soil should be made fine and rich before the seed is sown. Rutabagas may be sown from the 15th of June until the 15th of July. Yellow Stone, Aberdeen, White Cowhorn and Strap-leaved Red-top are sown in the order named, and from July 15th to the 1st or 10th of September. The seed is sown in drills, wide enough apart to admit of horse cultivation. The thinning of the plants in the row is of great importance. This work is best done with a hoe, the workman chopping out the turnips and leaving the plants about four to six inches apart in the row. In garden culture the rows need not be so far apart. It is very essential to keep the weeds down and the soil frequently stirred. The harvesting is simple. When growth is completed the roots are pulled, then the tops cut off and the turnips placed in root cellars or pits.
Turnips have an important place in a carefully planned system of farming. The root crop is a means of securing a large amount of most wholesome food for live stock, and at the same time it cleans the soil from weeds and prepares it for the growth of succeeding crops.