Cabbage Greens

In the vicinity of our large cities, the market gardeners sow large

areas very thickly with cabbage seed, early in the spring, to raise

young plants to be sold as greens. The seed is sown broadcast at the

rate of ten pounds and upwards to the acre. Seed of the Savoy cabbage is

usually sown for this purpose, which may be sometimes purchased at a

discount, owing to some defect in quality or purity, that would render

it worthless for planting for a crop of heading cabbage.



The young plants are cut off about even with the ground, when four or

five inches high, washed, and carried to market in barrels or bushel

boxes. The price varies with the state of the market, from 12 cents to

$3 a barrel, the average price in Boston market being about a dollar.

With the return of spring most families have some cabbage stumps

remaining in the cellar; these can be planted about a foot apart in some

handy spot along the edge of the garden, where they will not interfere

with the general crop, setting them under ground from a quarter to a

half their length, depending on the length of the stumps. They will soon

be covered with green shoots, which should be used as greens before the

blossom buds show themselves, as they then become too strong to be

agreeable. If the spot is rich and has been well dug, the rapidity of

growth is surprising; and if the shoots are frequently gathered, many

nice messes of greens can be grown from a few stumps. Farmers in

Northern Vermont tell me, that if they break off each seed shoot as soon

as it shows itself, close home to the stump, nice little heads will push

out on almost every stump. In England, where the winter climate is much

milder than that of New England, it is the practice to raise a second

crop of heads in this way. In my own neighborhood I have seen an acre

from which a crop of drumhead cabbage had been cut off early in the

season, every stump on which had from three to six hard heads, varying

from the size of a hen's egg to that of a goose egg; but to get this

second growth of heads, as much of the stump and leaves should be left

as possible, when cutting out the original head. As in the cabbage

districts of the North little or no use is made of this prolific after

growth, it is worse than useless to suffer the ground to be exhausted by

it; the stump should be pulled by the potato hoe as soon as the heads

are marketed. When cabbages are planted out for seed, if, for any

reason, the seed shoot fails to push out, and at times when it does push

out, fine sprouts for greens will start below the head; when the stock

of these sprouts becomes too tough for use, the large leaves may be

stripped from them and cooked. I usually break off the tender tops of

large sprouts, and then strip off the tenderest of the large leaves

below.