CHAP. I VILLA GARDENING 397 



and transplant them in sirring for producing seeds. A much better 

 crop will be obtained in this way, and they will be quite as good 

 and true as if saved from the selected roots themselves. 



Transplanting. — Where the plants are to remain, sometimes 

 it is an advantage to sow such things as are commonly transiDlanted. 

 Gardening is such a many-sided business that it is never wise to 

 dogmatise. On some soils, in a dry hot summer, Cauliflowers and 

 Lettuces are best sown thinly, and not traus2)lanted ; but in a 

 general way removal does good. There is no doubt, I think, that 

 a plant allowed to remain where the seeds drop acquires greater 

 strength than if the tap root is destroyed by removal. But with 

 the majority of cidtivated jjlants the destruction of this tap root is 

 a benefit, because it leads to the production of an immense number 

 of fibres, and increases the feeding capacity of the plant. In most 

 cases early maturity is of so much value that even if transplanting 

 was not in itself a recognised benefit it would be well to do it for 

 its forcing eft'ect. In most cases transplanting hastens the plant's 

 life's work. A Cabbage, Cauliflower, or Lettuce comes earlier to 

 market when transplanted. Instead of the plant having only one 

 main root which descends perpeudicularlj^, it has a number of 

 smaller roots sjiread out horizontally near the surface and well 

 within the influence of solar warmth. Transplanting fruit trees 

 occasionally keeps them in a healthy fertile condition. Most 

 flowering plants are much benefited by transplantation ; in some 

 cases the period of flowering is quite changed by it. Take the 

 case of the Russian Violet. If allowed to remain long in one spot 

 it flowers only in spring ; but if brought under a regidar system of 

 cultivation which involves annual transplanting, it becomes an 

 autumn and winter bloomer. Shrubs intended for winter forcing 

 must be frequently transplanted to build up the requisite fertility 

 of blossom buds and fibrous roots to support them. This, then, 

 I take it, is the general eftcct of transplantation — it hastens fer- 

 tility in the fruiting and flowering plant, and shortens the proba- 

 tionary time of the vegetable. There are, of com'se, some things 

 to which transplanting brings no benefit in a general way, but 

 which under special conditions and circumstances it helj^s. Take 

 the case of the Potato. If we save seed from a choice variety, we 

 sow it in a pan or box, and when strong enough we transplant the 

 seedlings with great care; but the transplantation of Potatoes 

 forms no part in the general system of cidtm-e adopted by the best 

 cultivators. I mention this, and many other things wliich occur to 

 me, in the way of elucidation, to show how elastic are — and, I 

 might add, shoidd be — the rules and laws by which gardening is 

 governed. Gardening is not, and never can be, an exact science, 



