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CABBAGE
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CABBAGE . The See also:parent See also:form of the variety of culinary and See also:fodder vegetables included under this See also:head is generally supposed to be the See also:wild or See also:sea cabbage (Brassica oleracea), a plant found near the sea See also:coast of various parts of See also:England and See also:continental See also:Europe, although See also:Alphonse de See also:Candolle considered it to be really descended from the two or three allied See also:species which are yet found growing wild on the Mediterranean coast. In any See also:case the cultivated varieties have departed very widely from the See also:original type, and they See also:present very marked and striking dissimilarities among themselves. The wild cabbage is a comparatively insignificant plant, growing from 1 to 2 ft. high, in See also:appearance very similar to the See also:corn See also:mustard or charlock (Sinapis arvensis), but differing from it in having smooth leaves. The wild plant has fleshy, shining, waved and lobed leaves (the uppermost being undivided but toothed), large yellow See also:flowers, elongated See also:seed-pod, and seeds with conduplicate cotyledons. Notwithstanding the fact that the cultivated forms differ in See also:habit so widely, it is remarkable that the See also:flower, seed-pods and seeds of the varieties present no appreciable difference.
See also: The Buda kale is sown in May, and planted out in See also:September, but a See also:sowing for See also:late See also:spring use may be made in the last week of See also:August and transplanted towards the end of September. To prevent over-crowding, the See also:plants should be transplanted as soon as they are of sufficient See also:size, but if the ground is not ready to receive them a sufficient number should be pricked out in some open spot. In See also:general the more vigorous sorts should be planted in rows 3 ft. and the smaller growers 2 ft. apart, and 18 in. from plant to plant. In these the heads should be first used, only so much of the See also:heart as is fresh and See also:tender being cut out for boiling; See also:side shoots or sprouts are afterwards produced for a See also:long See also:time in succession, and may be used so long as they are tender enough to admit of being gathered by snapping their stalks asunder. The plant sends up a stout central See also:stem, growing upright to a height of about 2 ft., with See also:close-set, large thick, See also:plain leaves of a See also:light red or purplish See also:Rue. The See also:lower leaves are stripped off for use as the plants grow up, and used for the preparation of broth or " Scotch kail," a dish at one time in See also:great repute in the north-eastern districts of See also:Scotland. A very remarkable variety of open-leaved cabbage is cultivated in the Channel Islands under the name of the See also:Jersey or branching cabbage. It grows to a height of 8 ft., but has been known to attain See also:double that See also:altitude. It throws out branches from the central stem, which is sufficiently See also:firm and woody to be fashioned into walking-sticks; and the stems are even used by the islanders as rafters for bearing the See also:thatch on their cottage-See also:roofs. Several varieties are cultivated as ornamental plants on See also:account of their beautifully coloured, frizzled and laciniated leaves. Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea var. bullata gemmifera) are See also:miniature cabbage-heads, about an See also:inch in See also:diameter, which form in the axils of the leaves. There appears to be no See also:information as to the plant's origin, but, according to See also:Van See also:Mons (1765-1842), physician and chemist, it is mentioned in the See also:year 1213, in the regulations for holding the markets of See also:Belgium, under the name of spruyten (sprouts). It is very See also:hardy and productive, and is much esteemed for the table on account of its flavour and its sightly appearance. The seed should be sown about the See also:middle of March, and again in the first or second week in April for succession. Any good See also:garden soil is suitable. For an early See also:crop it may be sown in a warm See also:pit in See also:February, pricked out and hardened in frames, and planted out in a warm situation in April. The main crop may be planted in rows 2 ft. asunder, the plants 18 in. apart. They should be got out early, so as to be well established and come into use before winter. The head may be cut and used after the best of the little rosettes which See also:feather the stem have been gathered; but, if cut too early, it exposes these rosettes, which are the most delicate portion of the produce, to injury, if the See also:weather be severe. The earliest sprouts become See also:fit for use in See also:November, and they continue good, or even improve in quality, till the month of March following; by successive sowings the sprouts are obtained for the greater See also:part of the year. The third class is chiefly represented by the common or See also:drum-head cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata, the varieties of which are distinguished by difference in size, form and See also:colour. In See also:Germany it is converted into a popular See also:article of See also:diet under the name of Sauerkraut by placing in a tub alternate layers of See also:salt and cabbage. An See also:acid See also:fermentation sets in, which after a few days is See also:complete, when the See also:vessel is tightly covered over and the product kept for use with See also:animal See also:food. The See also:savoy is a hardy See also:green variety, characterized by its very wrinkled leaves. The See also:Portugal cabbage, or Couve Tronchuda, is a variety, the tops of which form an excellent cabbage, while the midribs of the large leaves are cooked like sea-kale. Cabbages contain a very small percentage of nitrogenous compounds as compared with most other articles of food. Their percentage See also:composition, when cooked, is—water, 97.4; See also:fat, o•I; See also:carbohydrate, o•4; See also:mineral See also:matter, o•I; See also:cellulose, 1.3; nitrogenous matter (only about See also:half being proteid), o•6. Their food-915 value, apart from their See also:anti-scorbutic properties, is therefore practically nil. The cabbage requires a well-manured and well-wrought loamy soil. It should have abundant See also:water in summer, liquid manure being specially beneficial. See also:Round See also:London, where it is grown in perfection, the ground for it is dug to the See also:depth of two spades or spits, the lower portion being brought up to the See also:action of the weather, and rendered available as food for the plants; while the See also:top-soil, containing the eggs and larvae of many See also:insects, being deeply buried, the plants are less liable to be attacked by the See also:club disease. See also:Farm-yard manure is that most suitable for the cabbage, but artificial See also:manures such as See also:guano, superphosphate of See also:lime or See also:gypsum, together with lime-rubbish, See also:wood-ashes and See also:marl, may, if required, be applied with See also:advantage. The first sowing of cabbage should be made about the beginning of March; this will be ready for use in See also:July and August, following the autumn-sown crops. Another sowing should be made in the last week of March or first week pf April, and will afford a supply from August till November; and a further crop may be made in May to supply See also:young-hearted cabbages in the early part of winter. The autumn sowing, which is the most important, and affords the supply for spring and early summer use, should be made about the last week in August, in warm localities in the See also:south, and about a fortnight earlier in the north; or, to meet fluctuations of See also:climate, it is as well in both cases to anticipate this sowing by another two or three See also:weeks earlier, planting out a portion from each, but the larger number from that sowing which promises best to stand without See also:running to seed. The cabbages grown late in autumn. and in the beginning of winter are denominated coleworts (vulg. collards), from a kindred See also:vegetable no longer cultivated. Two sowings are made, in the middle of See also:June and in July, and the seedlings are planted a See also:foot or 15 in. asunder, the rows being 8 or io in. apart The sorts employed are the Rosette and the Hardy Green.
About London the large sorts, as See also:Enfield See also:Market, are planted for spring cabbages 2 ft. apart each way; but a plant from an earlier sowing is dibbled in between every two in the rows, and an intermediate See also:row a foot apart is put in between the permanent rows, these extra plants being See also:drawn as coleworts in the course of the winter. The smaller sorts of cabbage may be planted 12 in. apart, with 12 or 15 in. between the rows. The large sorts should be planted 2 ft. apart, with 21 ft. between the rows. The only culture required is to stir the See also:surface with the See also:hoe to destroy the weeds, and to draw up the soil round the stems.
The red cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata rubra, of which the Red Dutch is the most commonly grown, is much used for pickling. It is sown about the end of July, and again in March or April. The See also:Dwarf Red and See also:Utrecht Red are smaller sorts. The culture is in every respect the same as in the other sorts, but the plants have to stand until they form hard close See also:hearts.
Cauliflower, which is the See also:chief representative of class 4, consists of the inflorescence of the plant modified so as to form a compact succulent See also: The sowing for the first or spring crop, to be in use in May and June, should be made from the 15th to thel125th of August for England, and from the 1st to the 15th of August for Scotland. In the neighbourhood of London the growers adhere as nearly as possible to the 21st See also:day. A sowing to produce heads in July and August takes See also:place in February on a slight hotbed. A late spring sowing to produce cauliflowers in September or See also:October or later, should be made early in April and another about the loth of May. The cauliflower succeeds best in a See also:rich soil and sheltered position; but, to protect the young plants in winter, they are sometimes pricked out in a warm situation at the foot of a south 916 See also:wall, and in severe weather covered with hoops and mats. A better method is to plant them thickly under a garden See also:frame, securing them from See also:cold by coverings and giving air in mild weather. For a very early supply, a few scores of plants may be potted and kept under See also:glass during winter and planted out in spring, defended with a See also:hand-glass. Sometimes patches of three or four plants on a south border are sheltered by hand-glasses throughout the winter. It is advantageous to prick out the spring-sown plants into some sheltered place before they are finally transplanted in May. The later crop, the transplanting of which may take place at various times, is treated like early cabbages. After planting, all that is necessary is to hoe the ground and draw up the soil about the stems. It is found that cauliflowers ready for use in October may be kept in perfection over winter. For this purpose they are lifted carefully with the See also:spade, keeping a See also:ball of See also:earth attached to the roots. Some of the large outside leaves are removed, and any points of leaves that immediately overhang the flower are cut off. They are then placed either in pots or in garden frames, the plants being arranged close together, but without touching. In mild dry weather the glass frames are drawn off, but they are kept on during rainstorms, See also:ventilation being afforded by slightly tilting the frames, and in severe See also:frost they are thickly covered with mats.
Broccoli is merely a variety of cauliflower, differing from the other in the form and colour of its inflorescence and its hardiness. The broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. See also:botrytis asparagoides) succeeds best in loamy soil, somewhat firm in texture. For the autumn broccolis the ground can scarcely be too rich, but the winter and spring sorts on ground of this See also:character are See also:apt to become so succulent and tender that the plants suffer from frost even in sheltered situations, while plants less stimulated by manure and growing in the open See also: The larger-growing sorts may be put in rows 3 ft. apart, and the plants about 22 ft. apart in the rows, and the smaller-growing ones at from 2 to 21 ft. between, and 11 to 2 ft. in the rows. If the ground is not prepared when young plants are ready for removal, they should be transferred to nursery beds and planted at 3 to 4 in. apart, but the earlier they can be got into their permanent places the better. It is of course the young flower-heads of the plant which are eaten. When these form, they should be shielded from the light by bending or breaking down an inner leaf or two. In some of the sorts the leaves naturally See also:curve over the heads. To prevent injury to the heads by frost in severe winters, the plants should be laid in with their heads sloping towards the north, the soil being thrown back so as to See also:cover their stems; or they may be taken up and laid in closely in deep trenches, so that none of the lower See also:bare portion of the stem may be exposed., Some dry See also:fern may also be laid over the tops. The spring varieties are extremely valuable, as they come at a season when the finer vegetables are scarce. They afford a supply from See also:December to May inclusive. Broccoli sprouts, the representative of the fifth class, are a form of See also:recent introduction, and consist of flowering sprouts springing from the axils of the leaves. The See also:purple-leaved variety is a very hardy and much-esteemed vegetable. See also:Kohl-rabi ( Brassica oleracea var. caulo-rapa) is a peculiarvariety of cabbage in which the stem, just above ground, swells into a fleshy See also:turnip-like mass. It is much cultivated in certain districts as a food for stock, for which purpose the drumhead cabbage and the thousand-headed kale are also largely used. - Kohl-rabi isexceedingly hardy, withstanding both severe frosts and drought. It is not much grown in See also:English gardens, though when used young it forms a good substitute for turnips. The seeds should be sown in May and June, and the seedlings should be planted shallowly in well-manured ground, 8 or to in. apart, in rows 15 in. asunder; and they should be well watered, so as to induce See also:quick growth. The varieties of cabbage, like other fresh vegetables, are possessed of anti-scorbutic properties; but unless eaten when very fresh and tender they are difficult of digestion, and have a very decided tendency to produce flatulence. Although the varieties reproduce by seed with remarkable constancy, occasional departures from the types occur, more especially among the varieties of spring cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli. The departures, known technically as " rogues," are not as a See also:rule sufficiently numerous to materially affect crops grown for domestic purposes. Rogues appearing among the See also:stocks of seed-growers, however, if allowed to remain, very materially affect the character of particular stocks by the dissemination of See also:strange See also:pollen and by the admixture of their seed. Great care is exercised by seed-growers, with reputations to maintain, to eliminate these from among their stock-plants before the flowering See also:period is reached. Several species of See also:palm, from the fact of yielding large sapid central buds which are cooked as vegetables, are known as cabbage-palms. The See also:principal of these is Areca oleracea, but other species, such as the coco-palm, the royal palm (Oreodoxa regia), Arenga saccharif era and others yield similar edible leaf-buds. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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