October 3, 2012
John Randolph, the last Royal Attorney General for the colony of Virginia, advises us, “Three things are necessary to Cabbages . . . to be watered in a dry season, hilled up if they grow long shanked, and kept clear of weeds, which draw the nourishment from the plants and make them spindle.”
cabbage white butterfly
Cabbage has, however, one great enemy in Tidewater, Virginia that Mr. Randolph did not account for. The cabbage white butterfly, as the gardeners term it, or the Imported Cabbageworm as the academics classify it, is a ubiquitous presence in the fall garden. Mr. Randolph did not mention it because he would not have been bothered by this pest, which did not arrive in the Americas until the middle of the nineteenth century. It was well known in England, however, and its potential ravages were calculated by Richard Bradley in 1720, “Those Caterpillars which feed upon the Cabbage, and change into the common White Butter flies, breed twice every year, each of them laying near 400 Eggs at one time; so that from the second Brood of one single Caterpillar we may reasonable expect 160,000.”
covered cabbage
When the cabbage plants are young, the caterpillars and the eggs that produce them may be easily found and removed, but once the plants begin to head, the caterpillars migrate to the heart of the plant and cannot be easily reached. There are various elixirs that have been tried with varied success, but for complete control, a covering that excludes the butterfly is the easiest solution. We find that a covering of cheese cloth laid over a simple frame of sticks provides a sure protection, provided the plants are carefully inspected for eggs and caterpillars before covering them over. The modern gardener has several brands of floating row covers available from garden supply stores that may be employed in a like manner.
A complete survey of the cabbages may be found in Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way, 18th Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners (Rodale Press).
iCitizenForum
Christine Hansley says:
Dear Mr. Greene,
I have enjoyed your gardens the many times we have been to CW. I am an Illinois gardener. This past Spring, I noticed in one of my garden cataloges, that they were selling Virginia Peanuts and that they would grow as far North as zone 5, my zone. I planted 4 seeds. Two actually sprouted. I think a furry critter got the other two. It is getting close to the 120 days that the label indicated for a growing season. The package said that after harvest the peanuts need to be cured. They did not describe the curring process. Please help this Northerner. One of the peanuts had worked its way above ground last weekend, it may have been helped by a critter, so I opened it to see what I had. I had two whitish peanuts (full size)with a skin that was white and wet/slimmy. We did not eat them becuase I wasn’t sure if the curring process was needed to make them edible. Who knows, I might become a Virginia Peanut farmer in Illinois. NOT! If your response is too long for the blog, please send an e-mail. Thanks in advance.
One of these days we will get back to CW.
Have a great Fall season,
Chris
Colonial Williamsburg says:
Dear Chris,
I am just back from two weeks on the far western frontier of Virginia, currently known as West Virginia, and have come to see your inquiry. Peanuts travel a circuitous route to Virginia; a South American native transported to Africa with the Portuguese slave trade and then returned to North America with enslaved Africans. Europeans were slow to discover this bean (not actually a nut at all!) and I can find no reference to it being propagated by Virginia gentlemen, so it is not to be found in my garden. However, it is grown just outside of town at Great Hopes Plantation where I have recently journeyed to have a conversation with Mister Harold Caldwell, who has had a vast experience with this curious legume. When the foliage begins to decline, he advises to gently lift the peanuts from the ground with a fork or other such contrivance, flipping them on their backs so that the shells are exposed to the sun. The peanuts, as you observe, are white and somewhat slimy at this stage. After they have lain in the sun for several days they are gathered in bunches and hung in a dry place for several more weeks to cure. When the shells are hard and of the recognizable peanut color they will be ready for use. There are several methods of roasting them and Harold has offered to share his method at the address of hcaldwell@cwf.org.
Yr. Obedient Servant,
Wesley Greene
Christine Hansley says:
My dear Mr. Greene,
I trust your journey was a pleasant one. Based on the map in the Capitol building, Mr. Hansley and I reside just inside the very far reaches of the colony wilderness. Just South of what is now known as Chicago and just far enough south of Lake Michigan to be in Virginia territory. So I suppose we could say I am growing Virginia peanuts in Virginia. Thank you for the peanut/bean/legume history lesson. I will contact Mr. Caldwell for his methods.
I enjoyed your book very much. Our local library has a copy, but it is currently out and has a waiting list.
When we would dine at Shield’s Tavern, Mr. Shield (John Lowe)would recognize us and know he had someone in the dinner crowd that understood interactive theatre. Mr. Shield would tease me about my clothes and assume that being from the wilderness that is all I could purchase in the way of travel clothes from the French traders to the North. We always had fun.
One of these days we will get back to CW and we’ll stop by and say hello.
Thanks again and have a great fall season,
Chris