After  the  earth  has  been  thus  drawn  up  from  the  surface,  dig,  or
hoe  deep,  the  rest  of  the  ground. — Thus  the  crop  will  be  brought  to
perfection. — As  to  sorts,  the  earliest  is  the  early  dwarf ;  the  next
is  the  early  sea-green  ;  then  comes  the  early  York. Perhaps  any
one  of  them  may  do  ;  but  the  first  will  head  ten  days  sooner  than
the  last. The  greatest  thing  belonging  to  cabbages  is  to  have
heads,  loaved  and  white,  to  cut  early  in  the  spring  ;  and  these  you
cannot  have  unless  you  sow  the  seed  in  the  last  week  of  July  or
first  week  of  August ;  and  unless  that  seed  be  of  the  early  sort  and
true. The  manner  of  sowing  seed  and  of  pricking  out  has  already
been  described. The  plants  should  be  put  out  into  rows  of  two
feet  apart,  and  about  fifteen  inches  apart  in  the  row ;  and  this  work
should  be  done  about  the  latter  end  of  October. If,  however,  the
season  have  brought  the  plants  very  forward,  they  may  go  out  a
little  before  ;  but,  if  the  weather  prove  very  mild,  it  is  a  very  good
way  to  dig  them  up  and  plant  them  again  immediately,  each  in  its
own  place,  about  the  middle  of  November ;  for,  if  they  get  too
forward,  they  will  be  either  greatly  injured  by  a  sharp  winter,  or
will,  by  a  mild  winter,  be  made  to  run  up  to  seed  in  the  spring,
instead  of  having  heads  ;  but,  if  the  seed  have  been  well  saved,
there  is  very  little  danger  of  their  running  ;  perhaps  not  a  hundred
on  an  acre. It  is  the  method  of  saving  the  seed  that  is  the  all-in-
all  in  this  case. There  are  some  who  save  the  seed  of  cabbages
that  have  run. This  is  a  marvelously  easy  and  lazy  way,  and  will


V.]  CABBAGE. 79

give  you  seed  a  twelvemonth  sooner  than  you  can  have  it  by  taking
the  trouble  to  select  and  put  out  the  stumps  of  the  best  cabbages,
and  taking  care  of  them  during  the  ensuing  winter. 