tive merits; of
some of them I have yet something to learn, but I will endeavor to
introduce with my description such notes as I think will prove of value
to my fellow farmers and market gardeners.

I will here say in general of the class of early cabbages, that most of
them have elongated heads between ovoid and conical in form. They appear
to lack in this country the sweetness and tenderness that characterize
some varieties of our drumhead, and, consequently, in the North when the
drumhead enters the market there is but a limited call for them.

It may be well here to note a fundamental distinction between the
drumhead cabbage of England and those of this country. In England the
drumhead class are almost wholly raised to feed to stock. I venture the
conjecture that owing in part, or principally, to the fact European
gardeners have never had the motive, and, consequently, have never
developed the full capacity of the drumhead as exampled by the fine
varieties raised in this country. The securing of sorts reliable for
heading being with them a matter of secondary consideration, seed is
raised from stumps or any refuse heads that may be standing when spring
comes round. For this reason English drumhead cabbage seed is better
suited to raise a mass of leaves than heads, and always disappoints our
American farmers who buy it because it is cheap with the expectation of
raising cabbage for market. English-grown drumhead cabbage seed is
utterly worthless for use in this country except to raise greens or
collards.

The following are foreign varieties that are accepted in this country as
standards, and for years have been more or less extensively cultivated:
EARLY YORK, EARLY OXHEART, EARLY WINNIGSTADT, RED DUTCH, RED DRUMHEAD.
In my experience as a seed dealer, the Sugar Loaf and Oxheart are losing
ground in the farming community, the Early Jersey Wakefield having, to a
large extent, replaced them.

~Early York.~ Heads nearly ovoid, rather soft, with few waste leaves
surrounding them, which are of a bright green color. Reliable for
heading. Stump rather short. Plant two feet by eighteen inches. This
cabbage has been cultivated in England over a hundred years. LITTLE
PIXIE with me is earlier than Early York, as reliable for heading,
heads much harder, and is of better flavor; the heads do not grow quite
as large.

~Early Oxheart.~ Heads nearly egg-shaped, small, hard, few waste leaves,
stumps short. A little later than Ea