Part 4 (1/2)
=Bursting.=--Bursting of cabbage heads is caused by a second growth, the result, perhaps, of continued wet weather, or warm weather following cold weather. The best remedy is to cut part of the feeding roots, either by close cultivation or with a hoe.
=Selling.=--Cabbage prices vary between extremes that are far separated. Early cabbage usually sells at a good profit. Summer and autumn prices may be low. Winter and spring prices are almost always fair, and occasionally extra. Pennsylvania farmers sometimes s.h.i.+p to wholesalers in the cities and sometimes sell at public sale in the open field, in the autumn, just as the crop stands. The latter plan is an excellent one, where auction prices warrant it. It avoids the cost and risk of storage, as each buyer removes and stores his purchase.
=Storage.=--Cabbage will bear much freezing without injury. The art of winter storage is to put it where it will have the fewest changes of temperature, and where it will be cool and damp without being wet.
The most common practice is to cover two or three rows of inverted heads, with roots attached, with from 6 to 12 inches of soil, making provision for good drainage by ditches on both sides of the wedge-shaped heap.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Cutting Johnson & Stokes' Earliest Cabbage for Market.
Photographed June 1st, in the Field of Messrs. Myers & Bowman, the well-known Philadelphia Market Gardeners. This was the first Home-grown Cabbage in Philadelphia Markets.]
This system may be modified so as to include six or more rows of inverted cabbage, the heap being flat instead of wedge-shaped on top.
It does not turn water so well, but in practice is usually satisfactory. A good plan is to use about 6 inches of soil, and to add straw or litter as the cold increases.
Under a steady low temperature it is no trouble to keep cabbage through the winter, but it is hard to provide against the many changes of our variable climate.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Johnson & Stokes' Matchless Late Flat Dutch Cabbage.]
Where heads are to be carried over for seed, or where it is intended to head up soft cabbages during the winter (a feasible thing) the roots are set downward instead of upward. If care be taken to remove the roots without much injury, they may be set in furrows or trenches, and the earth heaped over the cabbages just as in the several ways above mentioned, and they will make decided growth during their life under ground. In fact, a cabbage with any sort of immature head in November will, under proper management, be in good marketable condition in March or April.
Solid freezing in the trenches is not necessarily destructive, but if the temperature falls much below 15 (at the point occupied by the heads), there is danger that they will perish. They may be in good edible condition after such severe freezing, but the chances are that they will fail to grow if set out for seed. The cabbage decays with a strong, offensive smell when its tissues finally break down after repeated changes of temperature and moisture. A uniform temperature is favored by the use of earth in storage, and though storage in buildings and cellars is quite feasible, there is nothing better or cheaper than the soil of the open field.
If the crop is not all to be marketed at one time, it is well to make a number of separate trenches, so that each can be wholly cleared of its contents at a single opening. These trenches and ridges must be made upon dry ground, where there is no standing water.
=For Stock.=--Cabbages make good food for cows, but should be fed after milking; and frozen cabbages should never be fed in any considerable quant.i.ty, as they are liable to cause hoven or bloat.
CARROTS.
A sandy soil or light loam is best for carrots, but they will grow anywhere under good culture. Enormous quant.i.ties are grown by the market gardeners, both under gla.s.s and in the open ground, for use in soups and for seasoning purposes. The short or half-long varieties are demanded by this trade.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Average Specimens of Rubicon Half-Long Carrots.]
Farm gardeners will do best with half-long and long kinds, unless a special demand calls for the smaller carrots. The large half-long and long ones are suited to both culinary and stock-feeding purposes.
It requires from three to four pounds of seed to the acre, depending on the distance between the rows. The plants should be from 3 to 5 inches apart in the rows, and the rows as near together as is feasible for horse work. Clean culture is demanded. The seed must be planted shallow, and may go into the ground as early as it can be worked in the spring, and from that time until the middle of June. The only danger about late planting is the possibility of dry weather.
The carrot is quite free from insect or other enemies, as a rule, and its culture is not difficult. It demands thinning and hoeing after the plants are well above ground, but no extra attention of any kind.
The winter storage is the same as for beets or turnips, either to be put away in earth-covered heaps or preserved in a cool, non-freezing root cellar.
The so-called Belgian carrots (both yellow and white) are used only as stock food; though the other sorts, such as Rubicon, Danvers and Long Orange, if in excess of market demands, are equally good for stock. Cows and horses are fond of them, and they are most wholesome. The farm gardener should raise them, however, for their cash value in the produce markets. The carrot is in high favor with good cooks everywhere.
The carrot does not demand excessively rich ground; in fact, too much manure tends to stimulate the growth of the top at the expense of the root, and fresh manure makes the root rough.
The smaller carrots are bunched and sold like radishes or early beets.
The larger kinds are sold by measure--about 60 cents or more per basket at this time (January, 1898). This is at the rate of $1.50 per barrel, or about $300 per acre. The crop is a good one, if near a market where carrots are demanded.
CARROT.--We especially recommend Rubicon Half-Long for market or stock. See ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”
SWEET CORN.