Head nearly round, generally of a deep-red or dark-purple color. The leaves on the outside of the plant are not numerous, rather rigid or stiff, green, much washed or clouded with red; stalk short.
It is about ten days earlier than the Large Red Dutch, and is quite variable in form and color.
The seed should be sown early; and, when transplanted, the rows should be about two feet apart, and the plants eighteen inches in the rows.
The variety is seldom served at the table, cooked in the manner of other sorts; for, when boiled, it has a dark and unattractive appearance. It is almost invariably shredded, and with the addition of vinegar, olive-oil, mustard, or other seasoning, served as a salad.
Large Red Dutch.
The most familiar as well as the most popular of the red varieties. The head is rather large, round, hard, and solid; the leaves composing-the head are of an intense purplish-red; the outer leaves are numerous, red, with some intermixture or shades of green, firm in texture, and often petioled at the union with the stalk of the plant, which is of medium height.
On account of its dark color when cooked, it is seldom used in the manner of the common cabbages. It is chiefly used for pickling, or, like the other red sorts, cut in shreds, and served as a salad; though any solid, well-blanched, small-ribbed, white-headed sort will answer for the same purpose, and perhaps prove equally tender and palatable.
The Large Red Dutch is one of the latest of cabbages, and should receive the advantage of nearly the entire season. Make the sowing, if in the open ground, as soon as the soil is in good working condition, and transplant or thin to rows two and a half or three feet apart, and two feet apart in the rows.
The heads may be kept fresh and sound until May.
Superfine Black. Thomp.