TRANSPLANTING INDIAN CORN 



good deep ploughing, or two at most, leaves the 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. &quot; But where are the hands 

 &quot; to come from to do the transplanting ? &quot; One would think, 

 that, to hear this question so often repeated, the people in America 

 were like the Rhodian Militia, described in the beautiful poem 

 of Dryden, &quot; mouths without hands.&quot; 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 

 hand-hoeing of it, sometimes twice ; the patching after the grubs ; 

 the suckering when that work is done, as it always ought to be ? 

 Put the plague and expences of all these operations together, and 

 you will, I believe, find them to exceed four or even six, dollars 

 an acre, if they be all well 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 within 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 ground, might almost be poked down like so 

 many sticks. I did not try it ; but, I am pretty sure, that tha 

 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 re 

 moval. 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, will 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 surprise 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 ? 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. 



223. If any one choose to try this method of cultivating Corn, 

 let him bear in mind, that the plants ought to be strong, and nearly 

 two feet high. The leaves should be shortened by all means ; 

 for, they must perish at the tops before the new flow of sap can 

 reach them. I have heard people say, that they have tried trans 

 planting Corn very often, but have never found it to answer. 

 But how have they tried it ? Why, when the grub has destroyed 

 a hill, they have taken from other hills the superabundant plants 

 and filled up the vacancy. In the first place, they have done this 

 when the plants were small ; that is not my plan. Then they 

 have put the plants in stale hard ground ; that is not my plan. 



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