close wrapped leaves which make the cabbage head and surround
the seed germ, situated just in the middle of the head at the
termination of the stump, are necessary for its protection and nutrition
when young, is proved, I think, by the fact that those cabbages, the
heads of which are much decayed, when set out for seed, no matter how
sound the seed germ may be at the end of the stump, never make so large
or healthy a seed shoot as those do the heads of which are sound; as a
rule, after pushing a feeble growth, they die.

For this reason I believe that the office of the head is similar to and
as necessary as that of the leaves which unwrap from around the blossom
buds of our fruit trees. It is true that the parallel cannot be fully
maintained, as the leaves which make up the cabbage head do not to an
equal degree unfold (particularly is this true of hard heads); yet they
exhibit a vitality of their own, which is seen in the deeper green color
the outer leaves soon attain, and the change from tenderness to
toughness in their structure: I think, therefore, that the degree of
failure in the parallel may be measured by the difference between a
higher and a lower form of organic life.

Some advocate the economy of cutting off a large portion of the heads
when cabbages are set out for seed to use as food for stock. There is
certainly a great temptation, standing amid acres of large, solid, heads
in the early spring months, when green food of all kinds is scarce, to
cut and use such an immense amount of rich food, which, to the
inexperienced eye, appears to be utterly wasted if left to decay, dry,
and fall to the ground; but, for the reason given above, I have never
done so. It is possible that large heads may bear trimming to a degree
without injury to the seed crop; yet I should consider this an
experiment, and one to be tried with a good deal of caution.

SELECTING THE SOIL.

In some of the best cabbage-growing sections of the country, until
within a comparatively few years it was the very general belief that
cabbage would not do well on upland. Accordingly the cabbage patch would
be found on the lowest tillage land of the farm. No doubt, the lowest
soil being the richer from a gradual accumulation of the wash from the
upland, when manure was but sparingly used, cabbage would thrive better
there than elsewhere,--and not, as was generally held, because that
vegetable needed more moisture than any other crop. Cabbag