Cabbage tree

“ Thus we see that food and raiment grow on this wonderful plant.
The cabbage-palm of Surinam is another of our wonderful plants. This gigantic tree has a stem about seven feet in circumference at the base, which ascends straight and tapering to a vast height, and bears a plume of graceful foliage. The cabbage lies concealed within the leaves that surround the top of the trunk. It is about two or three feet long and as thick as a man’s arm. When eaten raw, it greatly resembles the almond in flavour, but is much more tender and delicious. ”

“ A small species of cabbage tree, called here palmiste, is not rare and is much esteemed; the undeveloped leaves at the head of the tree, when eaten raw, resemble in taste a walnut, and a cauliflower when boiled; dressed as a sallad they are superior to perhaps any other, and make an excellent pickle. ”

“ The skill of the natives in tree climbing is also exercised for another purpose besides hunting for bees and animals. The well-known cabbage-palm grows to a very great height, and, like other palms, never grows quite straight, but has always a bend in the trunk. After the manner of the palm-tribe, it grows by a succession of buds from the top, and this bud, popularly called the “cabbage,” is a favorite article of food. It has been called the prince of vegetables, and one enthusiastic traveller declares that it must have been the ambrosia of the Olympic gods. ”

“ The cabbage, or soft pith and young unfolded leaves at the summit of the stem, in taste approaching the chestnut, is also eaten, but only when the tree has fallen or been felled, as the loss of its crown invariably destroys it. ”

“ Better at any rate `the cabbage garden' than the mere sheep run or cattle paddock."
Cabbage-Palm, n. same as Cabbage-tree (1) (q.v.) .
Cabbage-tree, n (1) Name given to various palm trees of which the heart of the young leaves is eaten like the head of a cabbage. In Australia the name is applied to the fan palm, Livistona inermis, R. Br., and more commonly to Livistona australis, Martius. In New Zealand the name is given to various species of Cordyline, especially to Cordyline indivisa. See also Flame-tree (2) . ”

“ The cabbage, which grows out from the bottom of the branches, is about a foot long and very white; and at the bottom of this there grow clusters of berries, weighing five or six pounds, like bunches of grapes, as red as cherries and larger than our black-heart cherries, each having a large stone in the middle, and the pulp eats like our haws. These cabbage trees abound about three miles into the woods, the trunk being often eighty or ninety feet high, and is always cut down to get the cabbages, which are good eating; but most of them grow on the tops of the nearest mountains to the great bay. ”

“ Nearly all the palms contain what is called a cabbage, or in other words a mass of young vegetable matter in taste, nearly resembling the heart of a cabbage stalk, and both in Australia and Africa we have occasionally availed ourselves of this. We do not advise it, except in cases of necessity, because the cutting of it out even from a young tree involves considerable labour, and it is always with some regret that a man feels himself obliged to destroy a noble tree, perhaps 40ft. or 50ft. in height to obtain hardly vegetable matter enough to serve him for a single meal. ”

“ We got, however, from the rocks, at low water, a few rock-oysters, and cockles of a very large size; and from the shore some cocoa-nuts, and the upper part of the tree that bears them, which is called the cabbage: This cabbage is a white, crisp, juicy substance, which, eaten raw, tastes somewhat like a chesnut, but when boiled is superior to the best parsnip; we cut it small into the broth that we made of our portable soup, which was afterwards thickened with oatmeal, and made a most comfortable mess: For each of these cabbages, however, we were forced to cut down a tree ”

“ Many have neat gardens attached to them, in which, during the summer season, the blooming rose, as well as the pink, the stock, and other European flowers, impart a beauty, and remind one of home; or, in lieu of these gay vegetable productions, the industrious housekeeper has caused the plot of ground to be planted with peas, beans, cabbages, and other culinary vegetables. The tree cabbage, common on the European continent, but rarely seen in England, I observed introduced in the gardens; it thrives well in the colony. ”

“ The cabbage-trees, [4] as they are called, which grow on the highest ridges, can by no art be cultivated on the lower ones, where the red wood and gum wood both grow; these in their turn refuse the high ridges, and neither of the three are to be found in the valleys, which indeed are in general covered with European plants, or the more common ones of the Indies, in all probability originally brought here by ships. This is the more probable, as much the largest proportion of them are natives of England. ”

“ A substance overtops the clusters about 10 or 12 inches in diameter, and 3 or 4 feet in height, in a full grown tree, from whence proceeds a stalk, about 4 inches in length, which, on being boiled in water, makes an excellent vegetable resembling cabbage, or rather, in taste, the cauliflower; the leaves of the tree are converted by the natives into baskets, fishing nets, and cloth. ”

“ All cabbages require a rich soil, and frequent hoeing up; and in dry weather they should be watered to make them succulent. The stalks of the spring cabbages are generally pulled up and carried to the refuse heap as soon as the cabbages are cut; but the stalks of the summer and autumn kinds are left standing, that they may throw out what are called sprouts. The culture of the red cabbage is exactly the same; except that there is no spring crop, and the stalks are never left standing for sprouts. ”

“ The outer leaves which surround the head appear to have the same office as the leaves which surround the growing fruit bud, and that office closes with the first year, as does that of the leaves surrounding fruit buds, when each die and drop off. In my locality the public must have perceived more or less clearly the analogy between the heads of cabbage and the buds of trees, for when they speak of small heads they frequently call them "buds." ”

“ 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 ”

“ These little miniature cabbages, growing closely together on a stalk, are delicious boiled like cabbage or used as a salad. The culture is the same as that accorded cabbage. The seed should be sown in the hotbed in spring and set out in the open ground in May in rows three feet apart and about twenty inches apart in the rows. Cultivate to keep down weeds and maintain a dust-mulch. By fall the little heads will be fully developed. The delicate flavor is improved by a touch of frost. ”

“ I have seen the cabbage bed so full of plants that it seemed as if two plants or more had sprung from every seed. Early and late cabbage, the rows labeled, can be planted in the same bed; lettuce, pepper grass, parsley and radishes in another, taking care to sow the radish seed thinly as the plants will not transplant well, and the radishes must be used for the table taken from the place where the seeds are sown. Cabbages grow better when the small plants are transplanted to the large bed where they are to stand for their season’s growth. ”

“ Here the cabbage palm shot its smooth and lofty trunk high into the air, there the bamboo waved its leafy ostrich plumes, and all about and around the soil was spread like an Indian shawl, with many a gorgeous flower and many a splendid fruit. ”

“ On my own grounds from a strain of seed that had been grown isolated for years, there recently came a plant that in its structure closely resembled Brussels Sprouts, growing about two feet in height, with a small head under each leaf. The cultivated cabbage was first introduced into England by the Romans, and from there nearly all the kinds cultivated in this country were originally brought. Those which we consider as peculiarly American varieties, have only been made so by years of careful improvement on the original imported sorts. ”

“ Prune your wall trees, lay gillyflowers and carnations, sow lettuce, and spinnage, for latter sallading, transplant or remove tulips, or other bulbous roots, plant cuttings of myrtles, but let them not have too much sun at first. Remove your large sided cabbage planted in may, to head in autumn. Keep weed from growing to seed, and begin your howing. Gather the snails from your wall-fruit, but pull n (illegible text) off the bitter fruit, for then they will begin with others. ”

“ In the winter of 1868, excessively cold weather came very early and unexpectedly, before my cabbage plot had received its full covering of litter. The consequence was, the frost penetrated so deep that it froze through the heads into the stumps, and, when spring came, a large portion of them came out spoiled for seed purposes, though most of them sold readily in the market. A cabbage is rendered worthless for seed when the frost strikes through the stump where it joins the head ”

“ As a kitchen garden vegetable, this is usually planted in some out-of-the-way spot and a piece of the root dug as often as needed, the fragments of roots being left in the soil to grow for further use. This method results in having nothing but tough, stringy roots, very unlike the product of a properly planted and well cared for bed. The best roots are those planted in the spring at the time of setting early cabbage, and dug as late the same fall as the weather will permit. It becomes, therefore, an annual crop. ”

“ Neither onions, parsnips, carrots, nor cabbages are here. I have never seen a garden in the autumn before, without the uncouth cabbage in it; but my garden gives the impression of a garden without a head. The cabbage is the rose of Holland. I admire the force by which it compacts its crisp leaves into a solid head. The secret of it would be priceless to the world. We should see less expansive foreheads with nothing within. ”

“ A more wonderful plant and a more useful one is seldom found in the whole range of the vegetable kingdom. The Romans did much to extend the culture of the cabbage. In Scotland it was not generally known until the time of Cromwell. Much improvement has been made in American sorts of cabbages within the past fifty years. In the wild state the cabbage has a hard, woody stalk, but the fine specimens in market have only a small stem, bearing a large, compact head, of closely folded leaves.
The first essential in the successful growing of cabbage is the right kind of soil. ”

“ Take a small, short stick and with a string wind the ends of the leaves, one leaf at a time, on the stick, folding the first leaf opposite to and inside the second, the second in the third, and so on, always allowing each succeeding leaf to overlap the last until the cabbage-head is large enough ”

“ The heads are usually spherical, attaining to a diameter of from five to nine inches, with the surrounding leaves gathered rather closely around them; in hardness and relative weight it is excelled by but few varieties. Stump short. It delights in the highest cultivation possible. It is about a week later than Early York. In those markets where cabbages are sold by weight, it will pay to grow for market; it is a good cabbage for the family garden. ”

“ In this way you can grow the vegetables better than if you waited until it was warm enough to put the seed right out in the garden, and let the plants grow up there from the beginning. Putting the seeds in the hot frame gives them a good start. Now we'll set out the cabbage plants, and you may both help."
Daddy Blake gave Hal and Mab each a small handful of the little cabbage plants, some of which had two and others three light green leaves on. There were also small roofs, with a little wet dirt clinging to them, from where they had been pulled out of their early home in which they first grew. ”

“ Having, then, good seeds on hand and the soil properly prepared to receive them, the only problem remaining is what way they shall be put in. The different habits of growth characteristic of different plants make it patent at the outset that there must be different methods of planting, for very evidently a cabbage, which occupies but three or four square feet of space and stays in one place to make a head, will not require the same treatment as a winter squash, roaming all over the garden and then escaping under the fence to hide some of its best fruit in the tall grass outside. ”

“ In the comparatively mild climate of England, where there are but few days in the winter months that the ground remains frozen to any depth, the hardy cabbage grows all seasons of the year, and turnips left during winter standing in the ground are fed to sheep by yarding them over the different portions of the field. ”

“ In twelve years' experience in growing this variety I have never found a diseased plant nor, except in a year of very exceptional weather, a soft head. They keep well over winter and are altogether a very satisfactory all round cabbage. ”