TRANSPLANTING 75 



When the transplanting is finished it is a good plan to 

 give the plants a good hoeing at once, drawing a little 

 loose, dry soil around them to act as mulch and prevent 

 evaporation. The holes for the plants are generally made 

 with a dibble, shown in Fig. 17. A spade is often used for 

 this purpose, and such plants as small onions are most con- 

 veniently set in small furrows made with a wheel hoe. In 

 every case, however, the plants should be set a little 



Fig. 27. Transplanting lettuce firming the soil. 



deeper than they grew in the seed bed, and in the case of 

 spindling tomato, cabbage, and some other plants it is a 

 good plan to bend the stems and bury a large part of them 

 in the soil, as shown in Fig. 24. 



Hardening off the Plants. Hardening off is a term used 

 to denote the checking of the growth of plants in such a 

 way as to cause their tissues to become firm and hard. It 

 is very important to have the plants accustomed to cold 

 weather when they are transplanted to the open ground, or 

 they may be killed by a frost that otherwise would do them 

 no harm. This is true of the cauliflower, celery, and of 

 course of all our native frost-tender trees and many other 



