Cabbages and Cauliflowers: How to Grow Them Part 2

If a season of drouth occurs when the cabbages have begun to head, the heads will harden prematurely; and then should a heavy rain fall, they will start to make a new growth, and the consequence will be many of them will split. Split or bursted cabbage are a source of great loss to the farmer, and this should be carefully guarded against by going frequently over the piece when the heads are setting, and starting every cabbage that appears to be about mature. A stout-p.r.o.nged potato hoe applied just under the leaves, and a pull given sufficient to start the roots on one side, will accomplish what is needed. If cabbage that have once been started seem still inclined to burst, start the roots on the other side. Instead of a hoe they may be pushed over with the foot, or with the hand. Frequently, heads that are thus started will grow to double the size they had attained when about to burst. There is a marked difference in this habit in different varieties of cabbage. I find that the Hard-heading is less inclined to burst its head than any of the kinds I raise.

MARKETING THE CROP.

When preparing for market cabbages that have been kept over winter, particularly if they are marketed late in the season, the edges of the leaves of some of the heads will be found to be more or less decayed; do not strip such leaves off, but with a sharp knife cut clean off the decayed edges. The earlier the variety the sooner it needs to be marketed, for, as a rule, cabbages push their shoots in the spring in the order of their earliness. If they have not been sufficiently protected from the cold, the stumps will often rot off close to the head, and sometimes the rot will include the part of the stump that enters the head. If the watery-looking portion can be cut clean out, the head is salable; otherwise it will be apt to have an unpleasant flavor when cooked. As a rule, cabbages for marketing should be trimmed into as compact a form as possible; the heads should be cut off close to the stump, leaving two or three spare leaves to protect them. They may be brought out of the piece in bushel baskets, and be piled on the wagon as high as a hay stack, being kept in place by a stout canvas sheet tied closely down. In the markets of Boston, in the fall of the year, they are usually sold at a price agreed upon by the hundred head; this will vary not only with the size and quality of the cabbage, but with the season, the crop, and the quality in market on that particular day.

Within a few years I have known the range of price for the Stone Mason or Fottler cabbage, equal in size and quality, to be from $3 to $17 per hundred; for the Marblehead Mammoth from $6 to $25 per hundred. Cabbages brought to market in the spring are usually sold by weight or by the barrel, at from $1 to $4 per hundred pounds.

The earliest cabbages carried to market sometimes bring extraordinary prices; and this has created a keen compet.i.tion among market gardeners, each striving to produce the earliest, a difference of a week in marketing oftentimes making a difference of one half in the profits of the crop. Capt. Wyman, who controlled the Early Wyman cabbage for several years, sold some seasons thirty thousand heads if my memory serves me, at pretty much his own price. As a rule, it is the very early and the very late cabbages that sell most profitably. Should the market for very late cabbages prove a poor one, the farmer is not compelled to sell them, no matter at what sacrifice, as would be the case a month earlier; he can pit them, and so keep them over to the early spring market which is almost always a profitable one. In marketing in spring it should be the aim to make sale before the crops of spring greens become plenty, as these replace the cabbage on many tables. By starting cabbage in hot beds a crop of celery or squashes may follow them the same season.

KEEPING CABBAGES THROUGH THE WINTER.

In the comparatively mild climate of England, where there are but few days in the winter months that the ground remains frozen to any depth, the hardy cabbage grows all seasons of the year, and turnips left during winter standing in the ground are fed to sheep by yarding them over the different portions of the field. With the same impunity, in the southern portion of our own country, the cabbages are left unprotected during the winter months; and, in the warmer portions of the South they are princ.i.p.ally a winter crop. As we advance farther North, we find that the degree of protection needed is afforded by running the plough along each side of the rows, turning the earth against them, and dropping a little litter on top of the heads. As we advance still farther northward, we find sufficient protection given by but little more than a rough roof of boards thrown over the heads, after removing the cabbages to a sheltered spot and setting them in the ground as near together as they will stand without being in contact, with the tops of the heads just level with the surface.

In the lat.i.tude of central New England, cabbages are not secure from injury from frost with less than a foot of earth thrown over the heads.

In mild winters a covering of half that depth will be sufficient; but as we have no prophets to foretell our mild winters, a foot of earth is safer than six inches. Where eel-gra.s.s can be procured along the sea coast, or there is straw or coa.r.s.e hay to spare, the better plan is to cover with about six inches of earth, and when this is frozen sufficiently hard to bear a man's weight (which is usually about Thanksgiving time), to scatter over it the eel-gra.s.s, forest leaves, straw, or coa.r.s.e hay, to the depth of another six inches. Eel-gra.s.s, which grows on the sandy flats under the ocean along the coast, is preferred to any other covering as it lays light and keeps in dead air which is a non-conductor of heat. Forest leaves are next in value; but snow and water are apt to get among these and freezing solid destroy most of their protecting value. When I use forest leaves, I cover them with coa.r.s.e hay, and add branches of trees to prevent its being blown away. In keeping cabbages through the winter, three general facts should be borne in mind, viz.: that repeated freezing and thawing will cause them to rot; that excessive moisture or warmth will also cause rot; while a dry air, such as is found in most cellars, will abstract moisture from the leaves, injure the flavor of the cabbage, and cause some of the heads to wilt, and the harder heads to waste. In the Middle States we have mostly to fear the wet of winter, and the plan for keeping for that section should, therefore, have particularly in view protection from moisture, while in the Northern States we have to fear the cold of winter, and, consequently, our plan must there have specially in view protection from cold.

When storing for winter, select a dry day, if possible, sufficiently long after rainy weather to have the leaves free of water,--otherwise they will spout it on to you, and make you the wettest and muddiest scarecrow ever seen off a farm,--then strip all the outer leaves from the head but the two last rows, which are needed to protect it. This may be readily done by drawing in these two rows toward the head with the left hand, while a blow is struck against the remaining leaves with the fist of the right hand. Next pull up the cabbages, which, if they are of the largest varieties, may be expeditiously done by a potato hoe. If they are not intended for seed purposes, stand the heads down and stumps up until the earth on the roots is somewhat dry, when it can be mostly removed by sharp blows against the stump given with a stout stick. In loading do not bruise the heads. Select the place for keeping them in a dry, level location, and, if in the North, a southern exposure, where no water can stand and there can be no wash. To make the pit, run the plough along from two to four furrows, and throw out the soil with the shovel to the requisite depth, which may be from six to ten inches; now, if the design is to roof over the pit, the cabbages may be put in as thickly as they will stand; if the heads are solid they may be either head up or stump up, and two layers deep; but if the heads are soft, then heads up and one deep, and not crowded very close, that they may have room to make heads during the winter. Having excavated an area twelve by six feet, set a couple of posts in the ground midway at each end, projecting about five feet above the surface; connect the two by a joist secured firmly to the top of each, and against this, extending to the ground just outside the pit, lay slabs, boards or poles, and cover the roof that will be thus formed with six inches of straw or old hay, and, if in the North, throw six or eight inches of earth over this.

Leave one end open for entrance and to air the pit, closing the other end with straw or hay. In the North close both ends, opening one of them occasionally in mild weather.

When cabbages are pitted on a large scale this system of roofing is too costly and too c.u.mbersome. A few thousand may be kept in a cool root cellar, by putting one layer heads down, and standing another layer heads up between these. Within a few years farmers in the vicinity of Lowell, Ma.s.s., have preserved their cabbages over winter, on a large scale, by a new method, with results that have been very satisfactory.

They cut off that portion of the stump which contains the root; strip off most of the outer leaves, and then pile the cabbages in piles, six or eight feet high, in double rows, with boards to keep them apart, in cool cellars, which are built half out of ground. The temperature of these, by the judicious opening and closing of windows, is kept as nearly as possibly at the freezing point. The common practice in the North, when many thousands are to be stored for winter and spring sales, is to select a southern exposure having the protection of a fence or wall, if practicable, and, turning furrows with the plough, throw out the earth with shovels, to the depth of about six inches; the cabbages, stripped as before described, are then stored closely together, and straw or coa.r.s.e hay is thrown over them to the depth of a foot or eighteen inches. Protected thus they are accessible for market at any time during the winter. If the design is to keep them over till spring, the covering may be first six inches of earth, to be followed, as cold increases, with six inches of straw, litter, or eel-gra.s.s. This latter is my own practice, with the addition of leaving a ridge of earth between every three or four rows, to act as a support and keep the cabbages from falling over. I am, also, careful to bring the cabbages to the pit as soon as pulled, with the earth among the roots as little disturbed as possible; and, should the roots appear to be dry, to throw a little earth over them after the cabbages are set in the trench. The few loose leaves remaining will prevent the earth from sifting down between the heads, and the air chambers thus made answer a capital purpose in keeping out the cold, as air is one of the best non-conductors of heat. It is said that muck-soil, when well drained, is an excellent one to bury cabbage in, as its antiseptic properties preserve them from decay. If the object is to preserve the cabbage for market purposes only, the heads may be buried in the same position in which they grew, or they may be inverted, the stump having no value in itself; but if for seed purposes, they must be buried head up, as, whatever injures the stump, spoils the whole cabbage for that object. I store between ten and fifty thousand heads annually to raise seed from, and carry them through till planting time with a degree of success varying from a loss, for seed purposes, of from one-half to thirty-three per cent. of the number buried; but, if handled early in spring, many that would be worthless for seed purposes, could be profitably marketed.

A few years since, I buried a lot with a depth varying from one to four feet, and found, on uncovering them in the spring, that all had kept, and apparently equally well. In the winter of 1868, excessively cold weather came very early and unexpectedly, before my cabbage plot had received its full covering of litter. The consequence was, the frost penetrated so deep that it froze through the heads into the stumps, and, when spring came, a large portion of them came out spoiled for seed purposes, though most of them sold readily in the market. A cabbage is rendered worthless for seed when the frost strikes through the stump where it joins the head; and though, to the unpractised eye, all may appear right, yet, if the heart of the stump has a water-soaked appearance on being cut into, it will almost uniformly decay just below the head in the course of a few weeks after having been planted out. If there is a probability that the stumps have been frozen through, examine the plot early, and, if it proves so, sell the cabbages for eating purposes, no matter how sound and handsome the heads look; if you delay until time for planting out the cabbage for seed, meanwhile much waste will occur. I once lost heavily in Marblehead Mammoth cabbage by having them buried on a hill-side with a gentle slope. In the course of the winter they fell over on their sides, which let down the soil from above, and, closing the air-chambers between them, brought the huge heads into a ma.s.s, and the result was, a large proportion of them rotted badly. At another time, I lost a whole plot by burying them in soil between ledges of rock, which kept the ground very wet when spring opened; the consequence was, every cabbage rotted. If the heads are frozen more than two or three leaves deep before they are pitted they will not come out so handsome in the spring; but cabbages are very hardy, and they readily rally from a little freezing, either in the open ground or after they are buried, though it is best, when they are frozen in the open ground, to let them remain there until the frost comes out before removing them, if it can be done without too much risk of freezing still deeper, as they handle better then, for, being tougher, the leaves are not so easily broken. If the soil is frozen to any depth before the cabbages are removed, the roots will be likely to be injured in the pulling, a matter of no consequence if the cabbages are intended for market, but of some importance if they are for seed raising. Large cabbages are more easily pulled by giving them a little twist; if for seed purposes, this should be avoided, as it injures the stump. A small lot, that are to be used within a month, can be kept hung up by the stump in the cellar of a dwelling-house; they will keep in this way until spring; but the outer leaves will dry and turn yellow, the heads shrink some in size, and be apt to lose in quality. Some practise putting clean chopped straw in the bottom of a box or barrel, wetting it, and covering with heads trimmed ready for cooking, adding again wet straw and a layer of heads, so alternating until the barrel or box is filled, after which it is headed up and kept in a cool place, at, or a little below, the freezing point. No doubt this is an excellent way to preserve a small lot, as it has the two essentials to success, keeping them cool and moist.

Instead of burying them in an upright position, after a deep furrow has been made the cabbages are sometimes laid on their sides two deep, with their roots at the bottom of the furrow, and covered with earth in this position. Where the winter climate is so mild that a shallow covering will be sufficient protection, this method saves much labor.

HAVING CABBAGE MAKE HEADS IN WINTER.

When a piece of drumhead has been planted very late (sometimes they are planted on ground broken up after a crop of hay has been taken from it the same season), there will be a per cent. of the plants when the growing season is over that have not headed. With care almost all of these can be made to head during the winter. A few years ago I selected my seed heads from a large piece and then sold the first "pick" of what remained at ten cents a head, the second at eight cents, and so down until all were taken for which purchasers were willing to give one cent each. Of course, after such a thorough selling out as this, there was not much in the shape of a head left. I now had what remained pulled up and carted away, doubtful whether to feed them to the cows or to set them out to head up during winter. As they were very healthy plants in the full vigor of growth, having rudimentary heads just gathering in, I determined to set them out. I had a pit dug deep enough to bring the tops of the heads, when the plants were stood upright as they grew, just above the surface of the ground; I then stood the cabbages in without breaking off any of the leaves, keeping the roots well covered with earth, having the plants far enough apart not to crowd each other very much, though so near as to press somewhat together the two outer circles of leaves. They were allowed to remain in this condition until it was cold enough to freeze the ground an inch in thickness, when a covering of coa.r.s.e hay was thrown over them a couple of inches thick, and, as the cold increased in intensity, this covering was increased to ten or twelve inches in thickness, the additions being made at two or three intervals. In the spring I uncovered the lot, and found that nearly every plant had headed up. I sold the heads for four cents a pound; and these refuse cabbages averaged me about ten cents a head, which was the price my best heads brought me in the fall. I have seen thousands of cabbages in one lot, the refuse of several acres that had been planted on sod land broken up the same season a crop of hay had been taken from it, made to head by this course, and sold in the spring for $1.30 per barrel. When there is a large lot of such cabbages the most economical way to plant them will be in furrows made by the plough.

Most of the bedding used in covering them, if it be as coa.r.s.e as it ought to be to admit as much air as possible while it should not mat down on the cabbages, will, with care in drying, be again available for covering another season, or remain suitable for bedding purposes. These "winter-headed" cabbages, as they are called in the market, are not so solid and have more shrinkage to them than those headed in the open ground; hence they will not bear transportation as well, neither will they keep as long when exposed to the air. The effect of wintering cabbage by burying in the soil is to make them exceedingly tender for table use.

VARIETIES OF CABBAGE.

If a piece of land is planted with seed grown from two heads of cabbage the product will bear a striking resemblance to the two parent cabbages, with a third variety which will combine the characteristics of these two, yet the resemblance will be somewhat modified at times by a little more manure, a little higher culture, a little better location, and the addition of an individuality that particular vegetables occasionally take upon themselves which we designate by the word "sport." The "sports" when they occur are fixed and perpetuated with remarkable readiness in the cabbage family, as is proved by a great number of varieties in cultivation, which are the numerous progeny of one ancestor. The catalogues of the English and French seedsmen contain long lists of varieties, many of which (and this is especially true of the early kinds) are either the same variety under a different name or are different "strains" of the same variety produced by the careful selections of prominent market gardeners through a series of years.

Every season I experiment with foreign and American varieties of cabbage to learn the characteristics of the different kinds, their comparative earliness, size, shape, and hardness of head, length of stump, and such other facts as would prove of value to market gardeners. There is one fact that every careful experimenter soon learns, that one season will not teach all that can be known relative to a variety, and that a number of specimens of each kind must be raised to enable one to make a fair comparison. It is amusing to read the dicta which appear in the agricultural press from those who have made but a single experiment with some vegetable; they proclaim more after a single trial than a cautious experimenter would dare to declare after years spent in careful observation. The year 1869 I raised over sixty varieties of cabbage, importing nearly complete suites of those advertised by the leading English and French seed houses, and collecting the princ.i.p.al kinds raised in this country. In the year 1888, I grew eighty-five different varieties and strains of cabbages and cauliflowers. I do not propose describing all these in this treatise or their comparative merits; of some of them I have yet something to learn, but I will endeavor to introduce with my description such notes as I think will prove of value to my fellow farmers and market gardeners.

I will here say in general of the cla.s.s of early cabbages, that most of them have elongated heads between ovoid and conical in form. They appear to lack in this country the sweetness and tenderness that characterize some varieties of our drumhead, and, consequently, in the North when the drumhead enters the market there is but a limited call for them.

It may be well here to note a fundamental distinction between the drumhead cabbage of England and those of this country. In England the drumhead cla.s.s are almost wholly raised to feed to stock. I venture the conjecture that owing in part, or princ.i.p.ally, to the fact European gardeners have never had the motive, and, consequently, have never developed the full capacity of the drumhead as exampled by the fine varieties raised in this country. The securing of sorts reliable for heading being with them a matter of secondary consideration, seed is raised from stumps or any refuse heads that may be standing when spring comes round. For this reason English drumhead cabbage seed is better suited to raise a ma.s.s of leaves than heads, and always disappoints our American farmers who buy it because it is cheap with the expectation of raising cabbage for market. English-grown drumhead cabbage seed is utterly worthless for use in this country except to raise greens or collards.

The following are foreign varieties that are accepted in this country as standards, and for years have been more or less extensively cultivated: EARLY YORK, EARLY OXHEART, EARLY WINNIGSTADT, RED DUTCH, RED DRUMHEAD.

In my experience as a seed dealer, the Sugar Loaf and Oxheart are losing ground in the farming community, the Early Jersey Wakefield having, to a large extent, replaced them.

~Early York.~ Heads nearly ovoid, rather soft, with few waste leaves surrounding them, which are of a bright green color. Reliable for heading. Stump rather short. Plant two feet by eighteen inches. This cabbage has been cultivated in England over a hundred years. LITTLE PIXIE with me is earlier than Early York, as reliable for heading, heads much harder, and is of better flavor; the heads do not grow quite as large.

~Early Oxheart.~ Heads nearly egg-shaped, small, hard, few waste leaves, stumps short. A little later than Early York. Have the rows two feet apart, and the plants eighteen inches apart in the row.

~Early Winnigstadt.~ (A German cabbage.) Heads nearly conical in shape, having usually a twist of leaf at the top; larger than Oxheart, are harder than any of the early oblong heading cabbages; stumps middling short. Matures about ten days later than Early York. The Winnigstadt is remarkably reliable for heading, being not excelled in this respect when the seed has been raised with care, by any cabbage grown. It is a capital sort for early market outside our large cities, where the very early kinds are not so eagerly craved. It is so reliable for heading, that it will often make fine heads where other sorts fail; and I would advise all who have not succeeded in their efforts to grow cabbage, to try this before giving up their attempts. It is raised by some for winter use, and where the drumheads are not so successfully raised, I would advise my farmer friends to try the Winnigstadt, as the heads are so hard that they keep without much waste. Have rows two feet apart, and plant twenty inches to two feet apart in the rows.

~Red Dutch.~ Heads nearly conical, medium sized, hard, of a very deep red; outer leaves numerous, and not so red as the head, being somewhat mixed with green; stump rather long. This cabbage is usually planted too late; it requires nearly the whole season to mature. It is used for pickling, or cut up fine as a salad, served with vinegar and pepper.

This is a very tender cabbage, and, were it not for its color, would be an excellent sort to boil; to those who have a mind to eat it with their eyes shut, this objection will not apply.

~Red Drumhead.~ Like the preceding, with the exception that the heads grow round, or nearly so, are harder, and of double the size. It is very difficult to raise seed from this cabbage in this country. I am acquainted with five trials, made in as many different years, two of which I made myself, and all were nearly utter failures, the yield, when the hardest heads were selected, being at about the rate of two great spoonfuls of seed from every twenty cabbages. French seed-growers are more successful, otherwise this seed would have to sell at a far higher figure in the market than any other sort.

~The Little Pixie.~ has much to recommend it, in earliness, quality, reliability for heading, and hardness of the head; earlier than Early York, though somewhat smaller.

Among those that deserve to be heartily welcomed and grow in favor, are the EARLY ULM SAVOY (for engraving and description of which see under head of Savoy), and the ST. DENNIS DRUMHEAD, a late, short-stumped sort, setting a large, round, very solid head, as large, but harder, than Premium Flat Dutch. The leaves are of a bluish-green, and thicker than those of most varieties of drumhead. Our brethren in Canada think highly of this cabbage, and if we want to try a new drumhead, I will speak a good word for this one.

~Early Schweinfurt~, or ~Schweinfurt Quintal~, is an excellent early drumhead for family use; the heads range in size from ten to eighteen inches in diameter, varying with the conditions of cultivation more than any other cabbage I am acquainted with. They are flattish round, weigh from three to nine pounds when well grown, are very symmetrical in shape, standing apart from the surrounding leaves. They are not solid, though they have the finished appearance that solidity gives; they are remarkably tender, as though blanched, and of very fine flavor. It is among the earliest of drumheads, maturing at about the same time as the Early Winnigstadt. As an early drumhead for the family garden, it has no superior; and where the market is near, and does not insist that a cabbage head must be hard to be good, it has proved a very profitable market sort.

The following are either already standard American varieties of cabbage, or such as are likely soon to become so; very possibly there are two or three other varieties or strains that deserve to be included in the list. I give all that have proved to be first cla.s.s in my locality: EARLY WAKEFIELD, EARLY WYMAN, EARLY SUMMER, ALL SEASONS, HARD HEADING, SUCCESSION, WARREN, VANDERGAW, PEERLESS, NEWARK, FLAT DUTCH, PREMIUM FLAT DUTCH, STONE MASON, LARGE LATE DRUMHEAD, MARBLEHEAD MAMMOTH DRUMHEAD, AMERICAN GREEN GLAZED, FOTTLER'S DRUMHEAD, BERGEN DRUMHEAD, DRUMHEAD SAVOY, and AMERICAN GREEN GLOBE SAVOY. All of these varieties, as I have previously stated, are but improvements of foreign kinds; but they are so far improved through years of careful selection and cultivation, that, as a rule, they appear quite distinct from the originals when grown side by side with them, and this distinction is more or less recognized, in both English and American catalogues, by the adjective "American" or "English" being added after varieties bearing the same name.

~Early Wakefield~, sometimes called ~Early Jersey Wakefield.~ Heads mostly nearly conical in shape but sometimes nearly round, of good size for early, very reliable for heading; stumps short. A very popular early cabbage in the markets of Boston and New York. Plant two and a half feet by two feet. There are two strains of this cabbage, one a little later and larger than the other.

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~Early Wyman.~ This cabbage is named after Capt. Wyman, of Cambridge, the originator. Like Early Wakefield the heads are usually somewhat conical, but sometimes nearly round; in structure they are compact. In earliness it ranks about with the Early Wakefield, and making heads of double the size, it has a high value as an early cabbage. Capt. Wyman had entire control of this cabbage until within the past few years, and, consequently, has held Boston Market in his own hands, to the chagrin of his fellow market gardeners, raising some seasons as many as thirty thousand heads. Have the rows from two to two and a half feet apart, and the plants from twenty to twenty-four inches apart in the row. Crane's Early is a cross between the Wyman and Wakefield, intermediate in size and earliness.

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~Premium Flat Dutch.~ Large, late variety; heads either round or flat, on the top (varying with different strains); rather hard; color bluish green; leaves around heads rather numerous; towards the close of the season, the edge of some of the exterior leaves and the top of the heads a.s.sume a purple cast. The edges of the exterior leaves, and of the two or three that make the outside of the head, are quite ruffled, so that when grown side by side with Stone Mason, this distinction between the habit of growth of the two varieties is noticeable at quite a distance.

Stumps short; reliable for heading. Have the rows three feet apart, and the plants from two and a half to three feet apart in the rows. This cabbage is very widely cultivated, and, in many respects, is an excellent sort to raise for late marketing. There are several strains of it catalogued by different seedsmen under various names, such as Sure Head, &c.

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~Stone Mason.~ An improvement on the Mason, which cabbage was selected by Mr. John Mason of Marblehead, from a number of varieties of cabbage that came from a lot of seed purchased and planted as Savoys. Mr. John Stone afterwards improved upon the Mason cabbage, by increasing the size of the heads. Different growers differ in their standard of a Stone Mason cabbage, in earliness and lateness, and in the size, form, and hardness of the head. But all these varieties agree in the characteristics of being very reliable for heading, in having heads which are large, very hard, very tender, rich and sweet; short stumps, and few waste leaves. The color of the leaves varies from a bluish green to a pea-green, and the structure from nearly smooth to much blistered.

In their color and blistering some specimens have almost a Savoy cast.

The heads of the best varieties of Stone Mason range in weight from six to twenty-five pounds, the difference turning mostly on soil, manure, and cultivation.

The Stone Mason is an earlier cabbage than Premium Flat Dutch, has fewer waste leaves, and side by side, under high cultivation, grows to an equal or larger size, while it makes heads that are decidedly harder and sweeter. These cabbages are equally reliable for heading. I am inclined to the opinion that under poor cultivation the Premium Flat Dutch will do somewhat better than the Stone Mason.