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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.
Next: Cabbage For Stock
Previous: Other Varieties Of Cabbage
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