Cabbages Under Glass

The very early cabbages usually bringing high prices, the enterprising

market gardener either winters the young plants under glass or starts

them there, planting the seed under its protecting shelter long before

the cold of winter is passed. When the design is to winter over fall

grown plants, the seed are planted in the open ground about the middle

of September, and at about the last of October they are ready to go into

the cold frames, as such are called that depend wholly on the sun for

heat. Select those having short stumps and transplant into the frames,

about an inch and a half by two inches apart, setting them deep in the

soil up to the lower leaves, shading them with a straw mat, or the like,

for a few days, after which let them remain without any glass over them

until the frost is severe enough to begin to freeze the ground, then

place over the sashes; but bear in mind that the object is not to

promote growth, but, as nearly as possible, to keep them in a dormant

state, to keep them so cold that they will not grow, and just

sufficiently protected to prevent injury from freezing. With this object

in view the sashes must be raised whenever the temperature is above

freezing, and this process will so harden the plants that they will

receive no serious injury though the ground under the sash should freeze

two inches deep; cabbage plants will stand a temperature of fifteen to

twenty degrees below the freezing point. A covering of snow on the sash

will do no harm, if it does not last longer than a week or ten days, in

which case it must be removed. There is some danger to be feared from

ground mice, who, when everything else is locked up by the frost, will

instinctively take to the sash, and there cause much destruction among

the plants unless these are occasionally examined. When March opens

remove the sash when the temperature will allow, replacing it when the

weather is unseasonably cold, particularly at night. The plants may be

brought still farther forward by transferring them from the hot-bed when

two or three inches high to cold frames, having first somewhat hardened

them. When so transferred plant them about an inch apart, and shield

from the sun for two or three days. After this they may be treated as in

cold frames. The transfer tends to keep them stocky, increases the

fibrous roots and makes the plants hardier. As the month advances it may

be left entirely off, and about the first of April the plants may be set

out in the open field, pressing fine earth firmly around the roots.



When cabbages are raised in hot-beds the seed, in the latitude of

Boston, should be planted on the first of March; in that of New York,

about a fortnight earlier. When two or three inches high, which will be

in three or four weeks, they should be thinned to about four or less to

an inch in the row. They should now be well hardened by partly drawing

off the sashes in the warm part of the day, and covering at night; as

the season advances remove the sashes entirely by day, covering only at

night. By about the middle of April the plants will be ready for the

open ground.



When raised in cold frames in the spring, the seed should be planted

about the first of April, mats being used to retain by night the solar

heat accumulated during the day. As the season advances the same process

of hardening will be necessary as with those raised in hot-beds.