THE GARDEN.

New Zealand Mail, 22 April 1887, Page 14

THE GARDEN.

EoM-Babi-A New Variety. Kohl-rabi, sometimes called the Turnip—rooted Cabbage, is a vegetable seldom seen it* our private gardens, though it is quite commonin the market, where it is mainly purchased by the Germans. It is in common throughout Northern "Europe, not only in gardens but aB a field crop, it being an excellent food for cattle—as valuable as Rutabagas, and more easily raised. Kohl-rabi is a variety of the cabbage, in whioh the stent, swells out to form a eort of above-ground bulb* which, when young, is fleshy and tender, and regard, d by many as superior to auy variety of'Turnip. The bulb of tbe older varieties is either globular, or strongly flattened above and below, being shaped like the early Turnips. There ia a cluster of leaves above and a root below. The bulb grows entirely upon the. surface of the ground, and has been called the ‘Aboveground Turnip.*" The exterior of the bulb is green, or in some of the varieties purple. If used before it gets too large, Kohlrabi is a delicious vegetable, superior to any of the varieties of the turnip. If allowed to get too old. it rapidly becomes filled with tough*, stringlike fibres, which render it quite., uneatable. This form of the Cabbage is thought to have originated in Germany ; at any rate it was* first introduced into England from that country, no longer ago than 1837, where it soon took an important place as a farm crop in some parts of that country. In several off the counties of England Kohl-rabi is regarded as superior to "Ruta-bagasj- or any other kind of Turnip, and the points in which it i& superior are those which commend it to the attention of the farmer of this country. The: great difficulty in the cultivation of the Rutabaga is its susceptibility to drouth, which evenin so moist a climate as that of England often greatly diminishes the yield. Another drawback is the many insects which attack and" injure it. An eminent English agricultural writer says of Kohl-rabi : * It is the bulb of dry summer. The greatest obstacle to thecultivation of root crops is hot and dry summers, and farmers and dairymen should try Kohl-rabi, which looks like a root blit isnot one, as a substitute. —Exchange.