Cabbage

[Fr. cabcohe; It. cappuccio, dim in. of capo, Lat. caput, head. ( Agric.) The Bra ica oleracea, or common culinary C., a species of the genus Bra ica. The innumerable varieties arise from difference of soil and cultivation; and as all the C. tribe form hybrids, new varieties are continually produced. This is effected by the bees, when different sorts are in flower at the same time. The pollen adheres to their bodies as they seek honey in the flowers, and being deposited on the pistils of other sorts, impregnates the germen. Hence, only one variety of C. should be in flower at any one time in any garden or field, when we wish to keep the sort unadulterated; particularly if some sorts have expanded leaves, and others close heads. The different sorts of C. most prized for the garden are chiefly divided into the close-heading and the spreading. In order to have a regular succe ion of C., the seed should be sown at different times, from the beginning of spring to the autumn. The early sown will run to seed the same year; the later sown will increase more, produce larger and firmer heads, and will not go to seed till the next season. C. are generally raised first in a seed-bed; when they are intended for early produce they are sown before winter, and protected by shelter, or under gla frames. In this manner strong plants may be had early in spring, which, planted out in April, will produce fine C. by July or August. Those which are raised on a large scale are generally sown in March, and planted where they are to remain in June or July. When they have been pricked out from the seed-bed very young, and allowed to get to a good size in a piece of ground prepared for the purpose, before being finally transplanted in the field, the succe is more certain, and it will well repay the additional trouble. These come to perfection in autumn, and may be taken off the ground as they are wanted. Some kinds are so hardy that they will bear the severest frosts, and remain covered with snow for a considerable time without damage. Such are the green curly-leaved C., which form no close head, but consist of spreading leaves. C. are subject to a peculiar disease when repeatedly planted in the same ground: the bottom of the stem enlarges, and the plant becomes sickly. This disease is called clubbing, and is occasioned by an insect, which deposits its eggs in the substance of the stem where it joins the root; the organization of the plant is deranged, and the C. never comes to perfection. The only remedy for this disease is to change the cultivation, and for a time to plant no C. on the ground which produces clubbed plants, but to trench it up well, and expose it to the winter's frost in ridges; quick-lime should be put on it, but no manure; and other vegetables of a different cla should be sown for two or three years.- Varieties. The C. is of highly vegetative character, its exuberance in this respect being variously expre ed, and yielding much divers if led varieties. It may be indicated by a growth of the parenchyma of the leaf, which is thrown into wavy folds, specially indicated in the common kale. In one variety, the Portugal or Tronchxuda C., it remains in the stem, which becomes swollen and turnip-like, of which we have an example in the kohl-rabi. This disposition becomes extreme in the Jersey С., in which the stem grows sometimes to a height of 8 or 10 feet, and has been used, not only for walkingsticks, but as timbers for small thatched roofs. In another case the vegetative surplus may produce a peculiar development of the buds, yielding us the Bru els Sprouts, or may be applied to the development of the apical bud alone, yielding the enormous "head" of the cabbage. The flowering of this bud is delayed until the vegetable proce is checked by the approach of winter. But in the final and most evolved variety, the caul if i ower, the vegetative surplus is poured into the flowering head. In consequence the flowering is partly checked, the inflorescence becomes a dense corymb instead of an open panicle, and the majority of the flowers abort and fail to produce seed. In the case of the! wrinkled and blistered Savoy, we have an example of exce ive development of the leaf parenchyma; and in the Broccoli we po e a specially vegetative cauliflower, an easily grown and hardy winter variety. Thus, in the widely diversified series of variations from wild cabbage to cauliflower, we have hypertrophied arrestments of a single proce , vegetative exuberance manifesting itself in one or another ti ue of the plant, and being arrested elsewhere. See CRAMBE. (Med.) C. a flesh-producing vegetables, whether given to man or animals; for the latter, especially milch cows, sheep and oxen, they are considered an admirable food; in the former, when imperfectly cooked, and only partaken of rarely, they are apt to produce flatulence; but these effects will soon subside if repeated for a short time, and eaten thoroughly boiled and pre ed. The best way of cooking C. , to deprive them of all the ingredients likely to produce flatulence and indigestion, is to boil them in two waters before serving them at table. -Cloth surreptitiously taken by a tailor or cutter-out of Cabbage, v . a . [Du. kabu en , to hide as in a basket; to steal dexterously; from kab us , a hand-basket.] To purloin pieces of cloth in cutting out clothes. garments. "Your tailor, instead of shreds, cabbages whole yards of cloth." -Arbuthnot. -Hence, to appropriate anything unlawfully, or without the owner's consent. -v. i. To form a head in growing; as the plants begin to cabbage.