Chapter 6

To _Pickle_, select hard heads, quarter them, soak in salt and water four or five days, then drain and treat as for other pickles, with vinegar spiced to suit.

For _Cold Slaw_, select hard heads, halve and then slice up these halves exceedingly fine. Lay these in a deep dish, and pour over vinegar that has been raised to the boiling point in which has been mixed a little pepper and salt.

_Sour-Krout._ Take large, hard-headed drumheads, halve, and cut very fine; then pack in a clean, tight barrel, beginning with a sprinkling of salt, and following with a layer of cabbage, and thus alternating until the barrel is filled. Now compact the mass as much as possible by pounding, after which put on a well-fitting cover resting on the cabbage, and lay heavy weights or a stone on this. When fermented it is ready for use. To prepare for the table fry in butter or fat.

The outer green leaves of cabbages are sometimes used to line a brass or copper kettle in which pickles are made in the belief that the vinegar extracts the coloring substance (chlorophyl) in the leaves, and the cucumbers absorbing this acquire a rich green color. Be not deceived by this transparent cheat, O simple housewife! the coloring matter comes almost wholly from the copper or brass behind those leaves; and, instead of an innocent vegetable pigment, your green cucumbers are dyed with the poisonous carbonate of copper.

CABBAGES UNDER GLASS.

The very early cabbages usually bringing high prices, the enterprising market gardener either winters the young plants under glass or starts them there, planting the seed under its protecting shelter long before the cold of winter is passed. When the design is to winter over fall grown plants, the seed are planted in the open ground about the middle of September, and at about the last of October they are ready to go into the cold frames, as such are called that depend wholly on the sun for heat. Select those having short stumps and transplant into the frames, about an inch and a half by two inches apart, setting them deep in the soil up to the lower leaves, shading them with a straw mat, or the like, for a few days, after which let them remain without any glass over them until the frost is severe enough to begin to freeze the ground, then place over the sashes; but bear in mind that the object is not to promote growth, but, as nearly as possible, to keep them in a dormant state, to keep them so cold that they will not grow, and just sufficiently protected to prevent injury from freezing. With this object in view the sashes must be raised whenever the temperature is above freezing, and this process will so harden the plants that they will receive no serious injury though the ground under the sash should freeze two inches deep; cabbage plants will stand a temperature of fifteen to twenty degrees below the freezing point. A covering of snow on the sash will do no harm, if it does not last longer than a week or ten days, in which case it must be removed. There is some danger to be feared from ground mice, who, when everything else is locked up by the frost, will instinctively take to the sash, and there cause much destruction among the plants unless these are occasionally examined. When March opens remove the sash when the temperature will allow, replacing it when the weather is unseasonably cold, particularly at night. The plants may be brought still farther forward by transferring them from the hot-bed when two or three inches high to cold frames, having first somewhat hardened them. When so transferred plant them about an inch apart, and shield from the sun for two or three days. After this they may be treated as in cold frames. The transfer tends to keep them stocky, increases the fibrous roots and makes the plants hardier. As the month advances it may be left entirely off, and about the first of April the plants may be set out in the open field, pressing fine earth firmly around the roots.

When cabbages are raised in hot-beds the seed, in the latitude of Boston, should be planted on the first of March; in that of New York, about a fortnight earlier. When two or three inches high, which will be in three or four weeks, they should be thinned to about four or less to an inch in the row. They should now be well hardened by partly drawing off the sashes in the warm part of the day, and covering at night; as the season advances remove the sashes entirely by day, covering only at night. By about the middle of April the plants will be ready for the open ground.

When raised in cold frames in the spring, the seed should be planted about the first of April, mats being used to retain by night the solar heat accumulated during the day. As the season advances the same process of hardening will be necessary as with those raised in hot-beds.

COLD FRAME AND HOT-BED.

To carry on hot-beds on a large scale successfully is almost an art in itself, and for fuller details I will refer my readers to works on gardening. Early plants, in a small way, may be raised in flower pots or boxes in a warm kitchen window. It is best, if practicable, to have but one plant in each pot, that they may grow short and stocky. If the seed are not planted earlier than April, for out-of-door cultivation, a cold frame will answer.

For a cold frame select the locality in the fall, choosing a warm location on a southern slope, protected by a fence or building on the north and north-west. Set posts in the ground, nail two boards to these parallel to each other, one about a foot in height, and the other towards the south about four inches narrower; this will give the sashes resting on them the right slope to shed the rain and receive as much heat as possible from the sun. Have these boards at a distance apart equal to the length of the sash, which may be any common window sash for a small bed, while three and a half feet is the length of a common gardener's sash. If common window sash is used cut channels in the cross-bars to let the water run off. Dig the ground thoroughly (it is best to cover it in the fall with litter, to keep the frost out) and rake out all stones or clods; then slide in the sash and let it remain closed for three or four days, that the soil may be warmed by the sun's rays. The two end boards and the bottom board should rise as high as the sash, to prevent the heat escaping, and the bottom board of a small frame should have a strip nailed inside to rest the sash on. Next rake in, thoroughly, guano, or phosphate, or finely pulverized hen manure, and plant in rows four to six inches apart. As the season advances raise the sashes an inch or two, in the middle of the day, and water freely, at evening, with water that is nearly of the temperature of the earth in the frame. As the heat of the season increases whitewash the glass, and keep them more and more open until just before the plants are set in open ground, then allow the glass to remain entirely off, both day and night, unless there should be a cold rain. This will harden them so that they will not be apt to be injured by the cabbage beetle, as well as chilled and put back by the change. Should the plants be getting too large before the season for transplanting, they should be checked by root pruning,--drawing a sharp knife within a couple of inches of the stalk. If it is desirable still further to check their growth, or harden them, transplant into another cold frame, allowing each plant double the distance it before occupied.

The structure and management of a hot-bed is much the same as that of a cold frame, with the exception that the sashes are usually longer and the back and front somewhat higher; being started earlier the requisite temperature has to be kept up by artificial means, fermenting manure being relied upon for the purpose; and the loss of this heat has to be checked more carefully by straw matting, and, in the far North, by shutters also. In constructing it, horse-manure, with plenty of litter, and about a quarter its bulk in leaves, if attainable, all having been well mixed together, is thrown into a pile, and left for a few days until steam escapes, when the mass is again thrown over and left for two or three days more, after which it is thrown into the pit (or it may be placed directly on the surface) which is lined with boards, from eighteen inches to two feet in depth, when it is beaten down with a fork and trodden well together. The sashes are now put on and kept there until heat is developed. The first intense heat must be allowed to pass off, which will be in about three days after the high temperature is reached. Now throw on six or eight inches of fine soil, in which mix well rotted manure, free from all straw, or rake in, thoroughly, superphosphate, or guano, at the rate of two thousand pounds to the acre, and plant the seed as in cold frame. Harden the plants as directed in preceding paragraph.

CAULIFLOWER, BROCCOLI, BRUSSELS-SPROUTS, KALE, AND SEA-KALE.

My treatise on the cabbage would hardly be complete without some allusion to such prominent members of the Brassica family as the cauliflower, broccoli, brussels-sprouts, and kale.

~Cauliflower.~ Wrote the great Dr. Johnson: "Of all the flowers of the garden, give me the cauliflower." Whether from this we are to infer the surpassing excellence of this member of the Brassica family, or that the distinguished lexicographer meant emphatically to state his preference of utility to beauty (perhaps our own Ben. Franklin took a leaf from him), each reader must be his own judge; but be that as it may, it remains true, beyond all controversy, that the cauliflower, in toothsome excellence, stands at the head of the great family of which it is a member. To be successful, and raise choice cauliflowers, is the height of the ambition of the market gardener; and, with all his experience, and with every facility at hand, he does not expect full success oftener than three years in four. The cauliflower, like the strawberry, is exceedingly sensitive to the presence or absence of sufficient water, and success or failure with the crop may turn on its having a full supply from the time they are half grown. The finest specimens raised in Europe are grown in beds, which are kept well watered from the supply which runs between them; and the most successful growers in the country irrigate their crops during periods of drouth. Cauliflowers do best on deep, rich, rather moist soils. In the way of food, they want the very best, and plenty of it at that. The successful competitor, who won the first prize at the great Bay State Fair, to the disgusted surprise of a grower justly famous for his almost uniform success in winning the laurels, whispered in my ear his secret: "R. manures very heavily in the spring for his crop. I manure very heavily both fall and spring." In manuring, therefore, do as well by them as by your heaviest crop of large drumhead cabbage, using rich and well-rotted manure, broadcast, with dissolved bone or ashes, or both, in the drill. Plough deep, and work the land very thoroughly, two ploughings, with a harrowing between, are better than one. Give plenty of room; three by three for the smaller sorts, and three by three and a half for the later and larger. They need the same cultivation, and, being subject to the same diseases and injury from insect enemies, need the same protection as their cousins of the cabbage tribe. In raising for the summer market, start in the cold frame, or plant as early as the ground can be worked, that the plants may get well started before the dry season, or the crop will be likely to make such small heads "buttons" as to be practically a failure. For late crop, plant seed in the hills where they are to grow, from the 20th of May to the middle of June. The crop ripens somewhat irregularly. When there is danger from frost, the later heads should be pulled and stored, with both roots and leaves, being crowded, standing as they grew, into a cold cellar or cold pit, when they will continue growing. As soon as the heads begin to form, they should be protected from sunlight by either half breaking off the outer leaves and bending them over them, or by gathering these leaves loosely together and confining them loosely by rough pegs, or by tying them together with a wisp of rye-straw.

~Varieties.~ These are almost as numerous as in the cabbage family. I find notes on some thirty-five varieties, tested from year to year, in my experimental grounds. Most of them prove themselves to be but a lottery, in this country of dry seasons, though in the moister climate of the European localities, where they are at home, they are a success.

The Half-Early Paris, or Demi-Dur, was for years the standard variety raised in this country, and from this, by selection, favorite local varieties were obtained; but, of late years, this has been, to a large degree, superseded by several excellent sorts, of which the Extra-Early Dwarf Erfurt was, doubtless the parent. Principal among these varieties are the Snowball, the Sea-Foam, Vick's Ideal, and Berlin Dwarf. All of these are early sorts and excellent strains. After testing them side by side, I find that the best strain of the Snowball is not excelled by either of them. Of the somewhat later ripening sorts, a variety which originated in this country, called the "Long Island Beauty," gives me great satisfaction, in its reliability for heading, and in the large size of its heads; this, with the Algerian, as a larger late sort, will give us a first-class series.

Cauliflower seed is not raised, as yet, to any large extent in this country, though some successful efforts have recently been made in this direction. I have found that there is a remarkable difference between varieties in the quantity of seed they will yield. From one variety I have raised as high as sixty pounds of seed from a given number of plants, while from two others, equally early, having the same number of plants in each instance, and raised in the same location (an island in the ocean), with precisely the same treatment in every way, I got, in each case, less than a tablespoonful of seed, though the heads of some of them grew to the enormous size of sixteen inches in diameter.

A fine cauliflower is the pet achievement of the market gardener. The great aim is not to produce size only, "but the fine, white, creamy color, compactness, and what is technically called curdy appearance, from its resemblance to the curd of milk in its preparation for cheese. When the flower begins to open, or when it is of a warty or frost-like appearance, it is less esteemed. It should not be cut in summer above a day before it is used." The cauliflower is served with milk and butter, or it may become a component of soups, or be used as a pickle.

The ~Broccoli~ are closely allied to the cauliflower, the white varieties bearing so close a resemblance that one of them, the Walcheren, is by some classed indiscriminately with each. The chief distinction between the two is in hardiness, the broccoli being much the hardier.

Of Broccoli over forty varieties are named in foreign catalogues, of which WALCHEREN is one of the very best. KNIGHT'S PROTECTING is an exceedingly hardy dwarf sort. As a rule, the white varieties are preferred to the purple kinds. Plant and treat as cauliflower.

Of ~Brussels-Sprouts~ (or bud-bearing cabbage) there are but two varieties, the dwarf and the tall; the tall kind produces more buds, while the dwarf is the hardier. The "sprouts" form on the stalks, and are miniature heads of cabbage from the size of a pea to that of a pigeon's egg. They are raised to but a limited extent in this country, but in Europe they are grown on a large scale. The sprouts may be cooked and served like cabbage, though oftentimes they are treated more as a delicacy and served with butter or some rich sauce. The FEATHER STEM SAVOY and DALMENY SPROUTS are considered as hybrids, the one between the brussels-sprouts and Savoy, the other between it and Drumhead Savoy. The soil for brussels-sprouts should not be so rich as for cabbage, as the object is to grow them small and solid. Give the same distance apart as for early cabbage, and the same manner of cultivation. Break off the leaves at the sides a few at a time when the sprouts begin to form and when they are ready to use cut them off with a sharp knife.

~Kale.~ Sea-kale, or sea-cabbage, is a native of the sea coast of England, growing in the sand and pebbles of the sea-shore. It is a perennial, perfectly hardy, withstanding the coldest winters of New England. The blossoms, though bearing a general resemblance to those of other members of the cabbage family, are yet quite unique in appearance, and I think worthy of a place in the flower garden. It is propagated both by seed and by cuttings of the roots, having the rows three feet apart, and the plants three feet apart in the rows. It is difficult to get the seeds to vegetate. Plant seed in April and May. The ground should be richly manured, and deeply and thoroughly worked. It is blanched before using. In cooking it it requires to be very thoroughly boiled, after which it is served up in melted butter and toasted bread. The sea-kale is highly prized in England; but thus far its cultivation in this country has been very limited.

The ~Borecole~, or common kale, is of the cabbage family, but is characterized by not heading like the cabbage or producing eatable flowers like the cauliflower and broccoli. The varieties are very numerous, some of them growing very large and coarse, suitable only as food for stock; others are exceedingly finely curled, and excellent for table use; while others in their color and structure are highly ornamental. They are annual, biennial, and perennial. They do not require so strong a soil or such high manuring as other varieties of the cabbage family.

The varieties are almost endless; some of the best in cultivation for table use are the DWARF SCOTCH, DWARF GREEN CURLED or GERMAN GREENS, TALL GREEN CURLED, PURPLE BORECOLE, and the variegated kales. The crown of the plant is used as greens, or as an ingredient in soups. The kales are very hardy, and the dwarf varieties, with but little protection, can be kept in the North well into the winter in the open ground. Plant and cultivate like Savoy cabbage.

The variegated sorts, with their fine curled leaves of a rich purple, green, red, white, or yellow color, are very pleasing in their effects, and form a striking and attractive feature when planted in clumps in the flower garden, particularly is this so because their extreme hardiness leaves them in full vigor after the cold has destroyed all other plants--some of the richest colors are developed along the veins of the uppermost leaves after the plant has nearly finished its growth for the season. The JERSEY COW KALE grows to from three to six feet in height and yields a great body of green food for stock; have the rows about three feet apart, and the plants two to three feet distant in the rows. In several instances my customers have written me that this kale raised for stock feed has given them great satisfaction.

The THOUSAND-HEADED KALE is a tall variety sending out numerous side shoots, whence the name.

* * * * *

SQUASHES:

HOW TO GROW THEM.

PRICE, 30 CENTS, BY MAIL.

This treatise is amply illustrated, and gives full particulars on every point, including keeping and marketing the crop.

* * * * *

FERTILIZERS:

WHERE THE MATERIALS COME FROM; HOW TO GET THEM IN THE CHEAPEST FORM; HOW TO MAKE OUR OWN FERTILIZERS.

In this work there will be found many valuable tables, with many suggestions, and much information on the purchase of materials, the combining of them, and the use of the fertilizers made from them. I believe it will give a good return to any of my customers, for his outlay. The treatise makes a book of 116 pages.

PRICE, BY MAIL, 40 CENTS.

CABBAGES AND CAULIFLOWERS:

_HOW TO GROW THEM_.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE, GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEPING AND MARKETING THE CROP.

BY

JAMES J. H. GREGORY, AUTHOR OF WORKS ON SQUASH RAISING, ONION RAISING, ETC., ETC.

BOSTON: CASHMAN, KEATING & CO., PRINTERS, 1889.

* * * * *

ONION RAISING:

WHAT KINDS TO RAISE AND THE WAY TO RAISE THEM.

BY

JAMES J. H. GREGORY, SEED GROWER AND DEALER, MARBLEHEAD, MASS.

This work has been warmly recommended by some of the best authorities in the country, and has gone through fourteen editions. It gives the minutest details, from selecting the ground and preparing the soil, up to gathering and marketing the crop. Illustrated with thirteen engravings of Onions, Sowing Machines, and Weeding Machines.

~PRICE, BY MAIL, 30 CENTS.~

* * * * *

A NEW TREATISE.

CARROTS, MANGOLD WURTZELS

AND

SUGAR BEETS.

WHAT KIND TO RAISE:

How to Grow Them

AND

How to Feed Them.

This treatise presents, in minutest detail, every step of progress, from planting the seed to the matured crop.

BY

JAMES J. H. GREGORY, MARBLEHEAD, MASS.

PRICE, BY MAIL, 30 CENTS.