ransplanting for Filling tip Blanks in Root Crops 



39 



The next point to be considered is the 

 transplanting them in the field, and this 

 brings up the question as to which is 

 the best kind of soil for this operation. We 

 have no hesitation in saying — because our 

 the mode of utilizing suc^a spaces is worthy of practice and its results has shewn the opinion 

 adoption, we shall glance briefly at a few of to be well founded— that the best state of 



crops which have missed, is obvious enough 

 if one draws to memory the number of fields 

 which in certain seasons and districts he has 

 seen, and the number of blank spaces on 

 them. Taking, then, for granted, the fact that 



the points connected with it. And first, as to 

 the seed-bed in which the plants are to be raised. 

 The situation of this should be in some 

 sheltered spot, protected from cold and biting 

 winds, and open to sunshine and balmy 

 breezes, the great object being to obtain a 

 number of plants in the highest stage of de- 



soil in which to transplant is a moist one, or 

 that met with after gende rains. We are 

 not here, in saying this, forgetting that some 

 maintain the opposite view — namely, that 

 the best state of soil in which to transplant is 

 a dry one. In the one case we transplant 

 after rain, in the other before it, and after 



above stated, believe 

 the transplanting after rain to be the best. 

 When so transplanted we have found very 

 few of the plants fail — a result the very oppo- 

 site of that which we found to be the case in 

 transplanting in a dry soil. The advocates 

 of the dry soil maintain that this is best, 

 in the bed or the drills. One advantage of because after the plants are put in, although 

 the drill system is, that hoeing and weeding they may droop, still when rain comes it 

 can be well carried out ; the disadvantage, pushes vigorously on ; whereas, when the 

 if indeed it is one, is that more ground is re- plant is put into moist or wet soil, and the 

 quired. The plants will be all the better for dry weather succeeds, the soil becomes hard 

 being thinned out, although many seem to 



velopment within the short, or comparatively dry weather. We, as 



short space of time which hes between the 



period of sowing and transplanting them into 



the field. The soil of the seed-bed should be 



well and fully worked, and richly manured. 



Difference of opinion exists as to whether it 



is the better plan to sow the seed broadcast 



think that all that is necessary is to put the 

 seed in the bed, and let the plants grow as 

 they list. But not only should the plants be 

 thinned out, but correct theory as well as 

 sound practice dictate that if the plants are 

 what gardeners call " pricked out," they will 

 be all the more valuable for field purposes. 

 All this to some will be as " much ado about 

 nothing," but, as we hold that what is worth 

 doing at all is worth doing well, we think it 

 best to say what is well doing. When the 

 plants are about to be transferred from the 

 seed-bed to the field, this transference should 

 be carefully done. The best condition of 

 the soil in which to remove the plants with- 

 out injury is the moist one after a gende 

 rain. The plants can be pulled up easily 

 without breaking off" the roots, which can 

 scarcely be avoided if the ground is hard and 

 dry. The plants Avhen taken up should be 

 carefully laid in baskets, and in such a way as 

 to preserve them as much as possible in the 

 position which they assumed when growing. 



and baked, and prevents the proper develop- 

 ment of the plant. In the case of the dry 

 soil, the advocates assume that after the 

 plant is put into the soil rain will shortly 

 come, whereas it may not come, and that^if 

 put into the moist soil it will therefore 

 become dry, whereas rain may come after 

 they are put in as well as before, and then 

 the soil will not become dry. The truth 

 is, that the advocates of extreme views 

 frequently assume extreme facts. It is 

 just possible that in this question, as 

 in others, the middle course is the best, and 

 that neither a too dry nor a too wet soil is 

 good — for our part we believe in a moderately 

 moist soil as the best ; and not only because 

 we believe the plants do best, but because we 

 know that there is a mechanical reason in 

 favour of it. Those who have tried to make 

 a good clear dibble hole in very dry soil will 

 know what we mean. In soil of this charac- 

 ter it is scarcely possible to make the hole 

 clear, the dry soil will fall in and fill it up 

 more or less. In moist soil the hole can be 



