1887 



GLEANIGN8 IN BEE CULTUKE. 



8.57 



the seed-bed were in a crowded state. The 

 effect of putting tliem in the greenhouse, 

 where tlie outside ones, at least, have plen- 

 ty of room, is to make each little cluster of 

 plants roll over and shoot out at each side, 

 like a bunch of flowers in a bouquet, and the 

 ground is soon apparently covered. When 

 they begin to crowd, pull out the largest 

 plants, and the others will, in a remarkably 

 short time, push out leaves to fill up the 

 space thus vacated, so you may get a con- 

 tinuous crop of nice lettuce right along, 

 without making any fresh sowings. I think 

 very fine celery and tomato plants — yes, and 

 cabbage-plants— could be produced by this 

 same process ; and the labor of transplant- 

 ing is nothing compared to the old way. In 

 fact, you handle from a half to one dozen 

 plants, where yoii formerly handled one ; 

 and there is something about the arrange- 

 ment that seems to encourage the plants 

 wonderfully, in starting right away to till up 

 the new space given them. Why, it seems 

 to me this little arrangement is going to 

 make a complete revolution in furnishing 

 vegetable-plants for sale; tliat is, in fur- 

 nishing transplanted plants. The labor of 

 transplanting I in the old way) is so great 

 that a good many have given it up, and fill 

 orders for plants with the long tap-rooted 

 spindling ones, just as they come from the 

 seed-bed. By this new process, however, 

 getting the plants out of the seed-bed into 

 the new one, where there is plenty of room, 

 is so quickly done it is scarcely any expense 

 at all ; and the best part of it is, the dirt 

 is never completely removed from the roots. 

 They are transplanted without being taken 

 from the soil, and without stopping their 

 growth at all. You can experiment on it 

 during the winter, if you choose, with house- 

 plants and with flowers ; and a little later 

 in the season, with early cabbage-plants. 



Now, then, for the application of this de- 

 vice on a larger scale. You know it is a very 

 difficult matter to transplant cucumbers. 

 In the cut below we show you a nest of dif- 

 ferent sizes of these transplanting-tubes. 



A NEST OF TRANSPLAISTTING-TUBES. 



These large ones we have made of galvan- 

 ized iron, with a stout wire around the top, 

 so they are not easily bent or^ bruised by 

 stepping on top of them. If you want to 



take up a hill of melons or cucumbers, or a 

 little tree, you will need to take one of the 

 tubes, say from six inches to a foot across, 

 according to the size of the tree or hill. 

 Plant both feet on the stout wire, and settle 

 it down by stamping one foot at a time. If 

 the soil is mellow, your weight will proba- 

 bly sink the tube as far as need be. With 

 very light soil, you may need a spade or 

 shovel to push under the tube. If the tubes 

 are deep enough, however, as shown in the 

 cut, this is seldom if ever necessary. Have 

 a place previously dug, to put the tree or 

 hill ; set the tube in, then level up the dirt 

 nicely around it. Now you are ready to 

 draw the shovel. Pour in the water, give it 

 time to soak into the earth containing the 

 tube, so as to make it all soft mud ; slip out 

 your tubes, nest them up in your wheelbai'- 

 row, and go for another load. The same ar- 

 rangement can doubtless be applied to pret- 

 ty good-sized trees. The nature of the soil 

 would probably have something to do with 

 it. 



The great point in this invention is the 

 facility with which we can spread crowded 

 plants so as to give them room and air, and 

 do it at the same time without stopping the 

 growth, or interfering with the plants in the 

 way that ordinary transplanting does. The 

 nearest approach to it has been the aixange- 

 ment for getting strawberries by potting. 

 This has every advantage of potted plants, 

 and nothing like the expense. The tubes 

 are not nearly as frail as pots ; and as they 

 can be used so many times, they are not as 

 expensive. You do not have to go along 

 and place your plants in a pot, and mark it 

 with a stone, as heretofore ; nor do you 

 have to wait a week or two for the runners 

 to get the pots full of roots. You go into 

 any strawberry-field, and get the plants yoTi 

 want, and that is the end of it. If your tin 

 tubes are used with any sort of care, they 

 will last for years. The cost of the material 

 ought not to exceed a cent each. The cost 

 of making should not be nearly a cent 

 apiece. Our workmen will make them in 

 quantities at the rate of one a minute. 



There is still another use for these trans- 

 planting-tubes. In many towns it is cus- 

 tomary to sell tomato, cabbage, celery, caul- 

 iflower, and pepper plants, etc., half a dozen 

 or a dozen in a little box, the purchaser to 

 take the box— dirt, plants, and all. Some- 

 times berry-boxes are used ; and as they are 

 the cheapest receptacle we can probably 

 find for the plants, they are, perhaps, the 

 best thing ; but to plant seeds in these box- 



