# The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Cabbage

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CABBAGE.
Brássica oleràcea, var.—Chou pomme, Fr.—Weiss Kopfkohl, Ger.
The Cabbage is one of the most ancient and esteemed vegetables, and as an esculent it stands in the highest estimation. The name is applied to the firm head or ball that is formed by the leaves folding close over each other. Like all other cultivated plants, the Cabbage has undergone so many changes and assumed so many varieties that it is not easy to give a description that will apply to the whole. Without exaggeration, many of the sorts are as far superior to others in flavor as cream is to sour milk, yet we continue to grow, year after year, the same varieties; some of which are so rank and strong that they are only fit for the cattle-yard or cow-shed, to the neglect of others which are not only tender and delicious to the taste, but are truly agreeable to the olfactory organs. The principal varieties in cultivation are the following.
Early York.—This is a valuable early variety, which has been cultivated upwards of one hundred years. Its earliness, and delicate taste and flavor, keeps it in estimation. The heads are small, round, slightly heart-shaped, and very firm. From its very dwarf growth, a great many can be planted in a small space. Rows one foot apart, and eight inches from plant to plant.
Large York. A variety of the former, of larger growth, and fully two weeks later. It is the variety cultivated extensively for the markets about Philadelphia.
Late York is another variety, improved in size, but inferior in flavor, and is, under the same culture, three weeks later than the Early York.
Early Nonpareil is one of the best sorts in cultivation. It heads freely, and is of a good size, and very delicate flavor.
Eariy Vanack is another sweet and delicately flavored vari​ety; in shape very similar to the Early York, though larger, and a little later. The flavor is equal, if not superior to that universally esteemed sort.
Early Battersea is a roundish, oval-headed variety. It is most excellent while young, before it becomes hard, and continues a considerable time in use. It is well adapted for cottage culture.
Early Sugar-Loaf is a very distinct sort. The heads are perfectly conical, the leaves erect and spoon-shaped. The heads are not so firm as those already noticed, but, unless for variety, it is not desirable, as the hot weather destroys its quality.
Early Dutch is a variety that connects the more early sorts with the Drumhead. Spring-sown seed will be fit to cut in August and September, and for the table is the only desirable variety of the late sorts.
Flat Dutch, or Drumhead.—Hundreds of acres of this Cabbage are cultivated in this vicinity for city use and shipping to southern ports. They are sold at about $2,50 per 100. It is a large spreading Cabbage, generally very broad and flat at the top; of a close and firm nature. It comes to perfection about the middle of September, and will continue till January. Seed sown in May will come into use in October and continue till February.
Bergen is also a Drumhead variety, larger and coarser than the former. It is most eligible for feeding cattle or making sauer kraut.
Savoy Cabbage.—There are four varieties of this Cabbage, but the Curled and Drumhead will suffice for our purpose. The Curled Savoy is a delightful Winter vegetable, improved in flavor by a considerable frost. It does not head firm, but the whole of the head is fit for the kitchen. Drumhead Savoy grows to a large size, nearly round, and a little flattened at the top. It is the principal sort for the market; like large cabbages it fills the eye, but the Curled is the best for family use; it pleases the taste ​Red Dutch.—This sort is esteemed principally as a choice pickle, and is sometimes sliced in salad. In its raw state it is of middle size, heart-shaped, heading very hard, and the whole of a red, purplish color. The darker the color, and the more thick and fleshy the leaves, without any white in the ribs and veins, the more valuable. It is in perfection from October till Christmas.
All these sorts of Cabbage are biennial, being raised from seed and attaining perfection the first year; and in the second shooting up the stalk, to flower and seed, after which they wholly perish.
To save for Seed.—On the approach of Winter bury the roots and stems with a part of the Cabbage, slantingly, in the ground, and in severe weather cover the heads lightly with straw. When Spring comes uncover them, and, as the stems grow, tie them up to prevent their being destroyed by the wind. The seed will ripen in June or July. Clean it, and put away in a dry place for use. If two varieties of the Brassica tribe are saved for seed in the same year, they should be in the extreme parts of the garden, or they will undoubtedly mix and degenerate.
Culture.—Fortunately the Cabbage can be cultivated by the most simple and easy means. It grows in most soils and produces its beneficial heads nine months in the year. The ground must be rich, or made so by a good coat of manure, as they have strong tapering roots. Digging or plowing deep is very essential. Indeed, this is too much neglected in the culture of all culinary crops.
To produce a constant succession of Cabbages, three principal sowings are necessary. For the early Spring and Summer crops, sow the seeds of the York, Nonpareil, Battersea and Vanack from the 12th to the 25th of September; each sort separately, on a bed of light, rich earth. Sow moderately ​thick, broad-cast, or over the ground, if the weather be dry. Tramp in the seed with the feet; rake evenly and smoothly, and finish by giving the beds a gentle beat with the back of the spade. If drought continues, water them a few times, and they will be up in eight or ten days. Towards the end of October, the strongest plants of this sowing will be fit to plant out. Prepare some rich, well-dug ground; draw deep drills, eighteen inches apart, and dibble the plants one foot apart in the row, on the south or east side of the drills, so as the plants may have all the benefit of the Winter suns, and be sheltered by the tops of the drills from the north and north-west winds. After the frost sets in severely, lay straw thinly across the drills, which will fully protect the plants. On the approach of Spring, remove it; these plants will be ready for cutting eight or ten days carlier than those that have been kept in frames all Winter. The balance of the plants for the main crop must be protected in a cold frame, covered with boards or shutters, removable at pleasure. It may be made by any person, merely taking a few boards about one foot wide; stretch them along in any sheltered situation, to the extent that will hold the required plants of Cabbages and Lettuces (say twenty feet long and six feet wide, which will hold four thousand plants, which, after allowing a considerable portion for failing, will be enough for a large family): Sink in the ground short posts of cedar or locust at back and front, and nail firmly there-to sound boards of oak or pine, the board at the back one foot high, the one on the front six inches; this, when covered, will allow the rain to run off. Throw up the earth close round the outside of the frame, to keep the water from entering under the boards or among the plants. If they are kept wet during Winter they will die off, or what gardeners call "damp off." In fact, the dryer they are kept the more safe they will be. Give air in all clear weather during Winter. In severe frost they should remain covered all day, but expose them fully in mild weather. Take care that mice do not prey upon them ​If they do, take as much arsenic as will lie on a ten cent piece, mix it with a table-spoonful of Indian meal, and lay it on a piece of tile or board in the frame, where it will be dry, which will soon destroy them. Early in Spring, transplant to the compartments of the garden designed for them. Lift the plants carefully with a trowel, retaining as many fibres and soil as possible. The plants should all be assorted, planting the strongest where the crop is expected to be earliest, so that all may come to maturity regularly. In their subsequent growth, if any fail or run to seed, supply the deficiencies with fresh plants. As the crop progresses, hoc frequently and deep; destroy every weed, and as the plants grow, draw eartlı round the stems, which will strengthen and forward them. The large Late Yorks require the same care and treatment. They will mature in succession, according to the lateness of the sort. Where a supply of plants has not been obtained in the Fall, it will be necessary to sow seed on a hot-bed about the middle of February—for the management of which see the article Cucumber—only the hot-bed will not require to be so strong, and a greater portion of air admitted to the frame in sunshine, and even a small portion at night when there is no frost, gradnally hardening them as they grow, till they become fit for planting out, which will be about the end of March or first of April. I have scen, however, where the garden depended upon the exertions of the cook, or the dexterous management of the housewife, a good crop of carly Cabbage plants grown in the kitchen window. It is a lamentable fact that many of our otherwise industrious farmers would have no vegetables were it not for the exertions of the female portion of the family. The health and comfort of a family would be greatly enhanced by giving a full portion of attention to the manuring and cropping of a vegetable garden. It is absolutely necessary in this country, that every farmer should be a gardener, and every gardener a farmer.
For the late Summer, Fail, and Winter supply, sow the seed ​from the first of April to the first of May, as dirceted for the September sowing. The sorts are Early Dutch, Drumhead, Bergen, Savoys, and Red Dutch; sow also a few large York. They will come in July or August, and be found useful for filling up vacant ground or patching. Transplanting may be in May, June, and July, as circumstances will admit. When planting out in Summer, as the weather is frequently very dry and hot, the ground should be fresh dug, the plants carefully lifted (having given them a copious watering the evening previous), and their roots dipped into a puddle or mush of cow dung, soot, or earth, before planting; then dibble them in firmly, give a good watering, and a certain growth will follow. The rows may be two feet apart, and eighteen inches from plant to plant. The after culture the same as directed for early Cabbage. When Cabbage heads have been ent, the stumps should be dug up every week and deposited in the rubbish heap. It is waste to allow them to sprout and grow, or decay and evaporate in the air. Some seasons, the fly (a small black beetle) destroys the plants as soon as they appear above the ground. Soot, air-slacked lime, and wood ashes sprinkled over them, is in part a preventive. Others destroy them by having a hen cooped, allowing the young chickens to have free access to the plants, from which they exterminate the flies. I invariably grow my scarce seed in boxes elevated eighteen inches above the ground, entirely out of the rench of this insect, which does not appear on elevated objects. This operation requires more attention in watering, but a certainty is always gained by it.
Wintering Cabbage—If you have not a dry, airy, vegetable cellar, nor an open shed to spare for burying them, take a sheltered part of the garden and bury the roots, stalk, and part of the head in the earth, over which, in severe weather place a few boards, or a light sprinkling of straw. In Southern latitudes this is unnecessary; there they can withstand the ​climate. Colerworts, a small kind of Cabbage, of a very tender nature and delicate flavor, can be successfully cultivated as directed for early Cabbage. Where the Winters are not severe, they, with Broccoli and Brussels sprouts, can be had for use the whole season.