Trouble in the Garden

From the Vallejo Evening Chronicle April 5 & 6, 1871

Cabbage Vermin - “The failure of the cabbage crop was a severe disappointment to Teutonic appetites, last year, but the current year promises no more favorably for this vegetable. Specimens have been exhibited in this office of portions of the leaves of this plant which are covered with the ova of what are known as cabbage lice. These vermin in myriads commit their depredations upon the cabbage, riddle the leaves and absorb all the juices, leaving it a bare skeleton, unpalatable and unfit for culinary purposes. The drought, also, dwarfs the growth, and prevents the heads from filling out. The German luxury, sauerkraut, bids fair to be a costly dish in this latitude from all indications.”

The Crop Prospect – “With much solicitude all classes of population in the State have watched the seasons lately, the fact having been painfully forced upon the public mind that short crops were threatened unless bounteous rains fell about the time of the vernal equinox. They did not come, as was so generally prayed for, and in many localities it is reported that there is no hope now for the grain crop.”