122 



MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The plants are dipped in muddy water, and then a boy takes the 

 plants in a basket and drops them in their proper places, two rows 

 at a time, and two men follow up and do the planting. I use a com- 

 man garden hoe, the handle shortened and one side of the hoe cut 

 off. With one motion of the hoe I draw away from the surface the 

 dry earth ; then I strike the hoe into the earth, draw it toward me, 

 set the plant in the cavity, let the earth on the hoe drop back and 

 firm it about the plant with my foot. The secret is to firm the earth 

 about the roots. After the plants are well started, say in the course 

 of a week, I commence to cultivate, and I use for that purpose the 

 Planet Jr. cultivator with a shovel that cuts ofif all the weeds below 





Foliage of the Senator Dunlap; from a patch grown for plants. 



the surface; it keeps the ground loose, and you can run close to 

 the plant and yet it does not throw any earth. I follow up cultiva- 

 tion until it freezes in the fall, and then I cover with straw or coarse 

 hay. I cover them only deep enough so I cannot see the plants. 

 In the spring I remove enough of the covering so the plants can come 

 through readily, and I leave the straw or hay between the rows as 

 a mulch. After the vines are through bearing I mow them ofif as 

 close to the ground as possible, and after they are thoroughly dry 

 I set fire to them and burn them up. In that way all weed seeds 

 and insects are destroyed. It does not injure the vines once in ten 

 times, but if it does plow them up and set out new ones. It puts 



