ut 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 mass, and the result was, a large proportion of them rotted
badly. At another time, I lost a whole plo