138 Tbaniplanting Indian Corn. [Part. II. 



ground as clean as a garden ; that is to say, as a garden 

 ought to be. The sowing of the seed in beds is one 

 day's work (for ten acres) for one man. Hoeing the 

 young plants, another day. Transplanting, four dollars 

 an acre to the very outside. " But Avhere are the hands 

 to come from to do the transplanting?" One would 

 think, that, to hear this question so otten repeated, the 

 people in America were like the Rhodian Militia, de- 

 scribed in the beautiful poem of Dryden, " mouths 

 toithout hands." Far, however, is this from being the 

 case ; or else, where would the hands come from to do 

 the marking ; the dropping and covering of the Corn ; 

 the /tand-AozH^ of it, sometimes twice ; the patching ., Siiiex 

 the grubs ; the suckering when that work is done, as it 

 always ought to be 1 Put the plague and expenses o 

 all these operations together, and you will, I believe, find 

 them to exceed four, or even six, dollars an acre, if they 

 be all icell done, and the Corn kept perfectly clean. 



222. The transplanting of ten acres of Corn cannot 

 be done all in one day by two or three men ; nor is it 

 at all necessary that it should. It may be done ^vithin 

 the space of twelve or fourteen days. Little boys and 

 girls, very small, will carry the plants, and if the farmer 

 will but try, he will stick in an acre a day himself; for, 

 observe, nothing is so easily done. There is no fear of 

 dearth. The plants, in soft groimd, mightalmost be poked 

 down like so many sticks. I did not try it ; but, 1 am 

 pretty sure, that the roots might be cut all off close, so 

 that the stump were left entire. For, mind, a fibre, of 

 a stout thing, never grows again after removal. New 

 ones must come out of new roots too, or the plant, 

 whether corn or tree, will die. When some people 

 plant trees, they are so careful not to cut off the little 

 hairy fibres ; for these, they think, wll catch hold of the 

 ground immediately, if, when they have planted in 

 the fall, they were to open the ground in June the next 

 year, what would be their surprize to find all the hairy 

 fibres in a mouldy state, and the new small roots shot 

 out of the big roots of the tree, and no new fibres at all 

 yet I for, these come out of the new small roots ! It is 

 the same with every sort of plant, except of a very 

 small size and very quickly moved from earth to earth. 



