The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-04-03
Early Cabbages.

for early plants in the fall and when
the plants are large enough transplant
them to cold frames in which they are
wintered. For several reasons l con-
slider spring sowing the best, and it
will recommend itself to the farmer
who will not care to attend to the
plants during the winter. In spring
sowing the seed may be sOwn in boxes
in the house, in a cold frame or in a
hot-bed. The last plan is best. To
start the plants in the house fill shall
low box with fine, rich garden mold to
the depth of six inches. In this sow
the seed and cover lightly. Keep the
soil moist. If the middle of the day is
warm set the box in the sunshine by
some window. 1 have grown cabbage
plants in this way for several years
and have found it to be a good plan
when only a small number were to be
started. But when any considerable
number is to be raised, and l am not
certain but that when only a small
number is to be started. it is better to
make hOt-bed. I find that it is a
general impression among farmers that
the construction of hot bed is
troublesome and expensive. This is a
false notion. The expense, cash, is
for a sash and few panes of glass.
All the work can be done in half a
day by one man. The best form of the
hot-bed is made by digging hole two
feet deep and of the same width and
length as the frame. This hole is filled
with horse manure. The manure should
be hauled a few days before and put in
a neap near the pit, and forked over
each day. After q Jew days the manure
is put in the pit and the frame set on.
This should be twelve inches high in
tI, IA saTCrhf inohas hfrrl,
with the side pieces properly slOped. 1t
can be made of old, waste boards. Fill
garden mold in the frame to the depth
of four or five inches, and put on the
sash. The back of the frame should be
toward the north and the front toward
the south that the rays of the sun may
strike the glass more nearly vertically,
and that the higher back may ward off
the cold winds that come from the
north. For few days the heat will be
too great to allow of the planting of the
seeds, and the sash should be raised a
couple of inches. After the heat has
moderated to sixty or seventy degrees
the seed may be sown. Shade the sash
till the plants appear above the surface.
Close the sash at night. Give water as
needed and keep the soil from getting
too hard by occasional light STRINGS be-
tween the rows, which should be about
six inches apart.
Instead OF digging pit some make
Il frame higher and put manure on
top of the ground. This plan saves the
labor of digging the pit but the hot-bed
thus made is not quite so good. 1t will
require more frequent waterings than
the other.
A cold frame is simply a hot bed
minus the manure. The latter gets its
Fo-1,o,4aff1v, Of ho
nure; the former from the sun only.
The cold frame must be covered with
| carpets or cloths at night to prevent the
heat from escaping.
Care must be taken TO harden the hot
bed plants before they are transpianted
to the open ground. This may be done
| by gradually removing the sash from
the hOt-bed during the day; or by first
! trans planting to cold frame.
Cabbage is a hardy plant and may be
| put in the open ground as soon as the
| frost is out and the ground is dry. If a
| cold snap should come, cover slightly
with some convenient material. OF
! course this applies to plants which have
been hardened. Such plants will not be
/ injured by even eight or ten degrees of
| frost. Whenever oats can be sown
! cabbage may be planted in the open
! ground.
A sapalv soil is necessary. 1t is al
ways dryest and can be stirred earliest
| in the spring. The cabbage does best
| on a sandy loan, with a sandy or gray
ely subsoil c. ming rather near the sur
/ face. Such soil will drain well natural
/ ", especially if on high and rolling
| lands, but even then it is best to under
drain. Heavy, wet, clayey soils should
| be avoided, as should also poor ones.
| Cabbage requires a rich soil Zach
wear the ground for cabbage should be
| covered with fine stable manure Ga mix
ture of equal parts from the COW and
| horse stables IS the best) to the depth
of two in ehes, and then plOwed under.
| Then pulverize the ground well. If the
ground is plOwed in the fall it is better,
as the frost pulverizes the ground and
destroys many eggs and Larvae which
are thrown upon the surface. If any
quantity are to he raised it is best TO
plant about fifteen inches apart in rows
far enough apart to admit of cultivation
with a one horse cultivatOr. But if on
| ly enough are to be raised for the con-
sumption of the farmers family they
may be put only fifteen inches apart
/ each way, as the cultivation can best be
done with hoe. Ten days after set
ting out the plants should be hoed, and
thereafter hOed OF cultivated frequent
lv until maturity. No plant is more
grateful for cultivation than the cab
Bage j. n, StaAl, s1s Prairie Farmer.