No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 305 



be sown not later than the 20th of February when two transplant- 

 ings are to be made before taking the plants to the field. Egg plants 

 and peppers should be sown fully as early as tomatoes and earlier 

 if you haven't a very warm place to keep the seed boxes. Sow 

 celery, lettuce, cauliflower and kohlrabi at the time the cabbage is 

 started. 



Transplanting. 



Transplanting is an absolutely necessary operation in the work 

 of growing early vegetable plants. By sowing the seed thickly a 

 very limited amount of space will grow a large number of plants. 

 For example, it is an easy matter to start 1,000 cabbage or tomato 

 plants in a flat 14 x 20 inches. When transplanted, not more than 

 140 cabbage plants should be set in this same size flat, and twenty 

 tomatoes will be as many as can be set in the box if you want to 

 grow fine stocky plants. It will be seen that a small hotbed of two 

 sash is large enough to start at least seven thousand celery or cab 

 bage plants, while ten times this number of sash will be required 

 to care for the plants after they have been transplanted. Another 

 advantage of transplanting is that the root system is enlarged and 

 improved, and when the plants are taken out of the boxes carefully 

 a considerable quantity of soil and manure clings to the roots which 

 is an immense advantage in giving the plant a quick start. A large 

 percentage of manure placed in the bottom of the flats before trans- 

 planting, or incorporated with the soil, increases the amount of 

 material which will adhere to the roots. 



Some vegetables, such as tomatoes, egg plants and cauliflower, 

 always command high prices when placed on the market very early 

 in the season, and it pays the grower to exercise special care in pro- 

 ducing the finest possible plants ready for the field the first day 

 that it is considered safe to place in the field. We have found in 

 our own practice that it is the most profitable to transplant earh 

 tomatoes twice before setting in the field. The seed is sown on 

 the greenhouse bench or in the hotbed not later than the 20th of 

 February. In four weeks the plants will be ready for the first 

 transplanting which is done on the benches of the greenhouse, 

 allowing an inch and one-half, or two inches between plants. In 

 three or four weeks the plants will be three to five inches high and 

 must be transplanted promptly or spindling plants will be produced 

 They may be set in flats, allowing from three to six inches between 

 plants, or better, set in discarded berry baskets, cans or earthen 

 pots. Where there is a large number of plants to be grown every 

 year, the most satisfactory plan from every standpoint is to use 

 earthen pots. The larger the pot the better the plant that can be 

 grown. It is probably very seldom hst it will pay to use larger 

 20—6—1905 



