n
ground; hence they will not bear transportation as well, neither will
they keep as long when exposed to the air. The effect of wintering
cabbage by burying in the soil is to make them exceedingly tender for
table use.

VARIETIES OF CABBAGE.

If a piece of land is planted with seed grown from two heads of cabbage
the product will bear a striking resemblance to the two parent cabbages,
with a third variety which will combine the characteristics of these
two, yet the resemblance will be somewhat modified at times by a little
more manure, a little higher culture, a little better location, and the
addition of an individuality that particular vegetables occasionally
take upon themselves which we designate by the word "sport." The
"sports" when they occur are fixed and perpetuated with remarkable
readiness in the cabbage family, as is proved by a great number of
varieties in cultivation, which are the numerous progeny of one
ancestor. The catalogues of the English and French seedsmen contain long
lists of varieties, many of which (and this is especially true of the
early kinds) are either the same variety under a different name or are
different "strains" of the same variety produced by the careful
selections of prominent market gardeners through a series of years.

Every season I experiment with foreign and American varieties of cabbage
to learn the characteristics of the different kinds, their comparative
earliness, size, shape, and hardness of head, length of stump, and such
other facts as would prove of value to market gardeners. There is one
fact that every careful experimenter soon learns, that one season will
not teach all that can be known relative to a variety, and that a number
of specimens of each kind must be raised to enable one to make a fair
comparison. It is amusing to read the dicta which appear in the
agricultural press from those who have made but a single experiment with
some vegetable; they proclaim more after a single trial than a cautious
experimenter would dare to declare after years spent in careful
observation. The year 1869 I raised over sixty varieties of cabbage,
importing nearly complete suites of those advertised by the leading
English and French seed houses, and collecting the principal kinds
raised in this country. In the year 1888, I grew eighty-five different
varieties and strains of cabbages and cauliflowers. I do not propose
describing all these in this treatise or their compara