_all_ his plants being cut off, I should cut him off pretty
quickly. If those in the 36 rods fail, or fail in part, fill up their
places, later in the winter, by plants from the bed.

119. If you find the ground dry at the top during the winter, hoe it, and
particularly near the plants, and rout out all slugs and insects. And when
March comes, and the ground _is dry_, hoe deep and well, and earth the
plants up close to the lower leaves. As soon as the plants begin to
_grow_, dig the ground with a spade clean and well, and let the spade go
as near to the plants as you can without actually _displacing the plants_.
Give them another digging in a month; and, if weeds come in the
mean-while, _hoe_, and let not one live a week. Oh! "what a deal of
_work_!" Well! but it is for _yourself_, and, besides, it is not all to be
done in a day; and we shall by-and-by see what it is altogether.

120. By the first of June; I speak of the South of England, and there is
also some difference in seasons and soils; but, generally speaking, by the
first of June you will have _turned-in cabbages_, and soon you will have
the Early Yorks _solid_. And by the first of June you may get your cow,
one that is about to calve, or that has just calved, and at this time such
a cow as you will want will not, thank God, cost above five pounds.

121. I shall speak of the place to keep her in, and of the manure and
litter, by-and-by. At present I confine myself to her mere food. The 36
rods, if the cabbages all stood till they got _solid_, would give her food
for 200 days, at 80 pounds weight per day, which is more than she would
eat. But you must use some, at first, that are not solid; and, then, some
of them will split before you can use them. But you will have pigs to help
off with them, and to gnaw the heads of the stumps. Some of the
sugar-loaves may have been planted out in the spring; and thus these 36
rods will get you along to some time in September.

122. Now mind, in March, and again in April, sow more _Early Yorks_, and
get them to be fine stout plants, as you did those in the fall. Dig up the
ground and manure it, and, as fast as you cut cabbages, plant cabbages;
and in the same manner and with the same cultivation as before. Your last
planting will be about the middle of August, with _stout plants_, and
these will serve you into the month of November.

123. Now we have to provide from _December to May inclusive_; and that,
too, out of this s