The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-01

THE DEsPIsED CABBAGE.
To the casual eye the plain. old. every
day cabbage is merely rustic food product.
with no distinction about it, but to the
student of the rise and fall in worldly repu-
tation the commonplace cabbage has
past well worth looking into. 1t was once
held in high esteem by emperors, mobiles
and physicians and the old Greeks opened
their banquets with cabbage In medicine
1t had prime prestige. One Greek physician
named it 1.-The divine cabbage" and another
wrote an entire book in its praise. Recent
ly doctors have prescribed raw cabbage
for dyspepsia and for the nerves. Cab
bages were sent TO England from Holland
as presents in Ben Jonsons time. and at
Winborne, Dorsetshire. a cabbage is
sculptured at the feet of the statue of Sir
Anthony Ashley to honor the tomb of the
first man who planted cabbages in Eng
land
To the philologist the cabbage opens a
long and pretty story. 'Cabbsh'' is a
droll old English name. The French give
us ''caboche," the Spanish "cabeza," while
in the Italian language is found "cappucio"
"a little head. hood or cowl linked again
with the capuchin hooded friar- Far be
it from any one to name him akin to the
"choux cabus"-or cabbage head" Caul.
kale and kohl are of the same family. The
"kohlsaats'' are cabbage seed" and the
kailyard is the kitchen garden in two
pretty cabbage languages. "Cabuser." to
cheat, contains a well-known aspersion on
the tailor who "cabbages" cloth not his
own, and ito go plant cabbages." in old
French, is to retire to ones country-seat.
For the true virtues of the homely cab
bage the oldest farmer must be heard from.
He remembers when f1atboat loads OF cab
bages went down the Ohio river to the
Southern market Now Texas, Louisiana
and Florida ship fine cabbages to the
North With a sigh. the oldest farmer says
he would give his last 10 cents for a good,
old-fashioned cabbage. Cabbages nova
days, he thinks, are spoiled. They are
grown hard and tough to stand long ship
ments he claims, but the old cabbage was
| tender and toothsome, brittle and sweet
Only on the way-back farms, like up in the
Kentucky mountains, where folks grow
things to eat, can the old-fashioned cab
bage still be found But the market gar
deners' new cabbage, he admits, is wonder
| full and beautiful Cabbage can be cooked
| in so many ways ii is never monotonous
Boiled cabbage is cabbage cut into quar-
| tiers and favored with bacon. Then there
is stewed cabbage. shredded cold slaw, hot
slaw, fried cabbage, picked cabbage, and
that great German dish, sauer krout, or
''sour herb" Old-fashioned cooks used to
| cook cabbage in a cabbage net, and an
| old English dish of fried cabbage and beef
or mutton bears the curious name of ''bub-
ble-and-squeak. Old New England cook
books called slaw shaved cabbage"
| S'repty, one of Mr.. Riley's heroines, be it
remembered, said Nav, stop cryin' there
! an stir tn slaw."
In old-time farm life nothing could take
the place of cabbage leaf. 1t was worn in
the hat to ward off sunstroke. Butter
was wrapped in it the way to market.
A cabbage leaf covered blackberries in. the
pail, lard in the crock and buttermilk in
the pitcher. Rabbits love cabbage leaves,
and fresh, green bit is joy to the Gagged
| bird. At the pioneer freside the child's
! good supper was hot lash cake, cooked
| on the ashes of the hearth between two
| cabbage leaves and served to him with
butter and mug of milk. Children loved
to eat cabbage stalk with salt in old days.
and many a good cow has choked to death
| over the same juicy edible. Old agricul-
| tural reports paid no attention to "the cab
bage fruit" but it is done fullest justice in
| modern florists catalogues. Long Island
! claims the finest cabbage fields in the
| world but ten Louisiana cabbages at the
! Chicago worlds fair weighed 173 pounds
| and won a prize. Nowadays all cabbages
| have ornamental names. Some of these are
| the Imperial Bismarck. Perfection. Red
| Dutch, Excelsior, World-beater, Early OK
| heart, Mammoth. Drumhead, Early Sum-
| mer, Crescent City, Flat Dutch. All Sea-
| sons, Solid South, Green Globe, Pride of the
South, Succession and French Market. An
Indiana cabbage, grown on old lanyard
soil some ten years ago. measured five feet
across the outer leaves.
All seamen know the value of cabbage as
a preservative from scurvy, and southern
! Indiana ships yearly many barrels of sauer
| kraut to New Orleans, there to be sold
| to vessels bound to many foreign parts.
Chickens love cabbage, and the old
| fashioned poultry raiser used to hang a big
cabbage in his chicken yard, that the
| young chickens might get exercise in jump
ing to snap the juicy morsels. Among the
smart set recently much-admired din
ner table centerpiece was presented in
beautiful blue-green cabbage, its fresh open
heart filled with La France roses and
clusters of the same exquisite pink rose
nestled among its outspread leaves.