RUTA BAGA CULTURE. [PART I. 



the very worst time, for this business of trans 

 plantation, whether of cabbages or of any thing 

 else, from a lettuce-plant to an apple-tree. I 

 have proved the fact, in scores upon scores of 

 instances. The first time that I had any expe 

 rience Of the matter was in the planting out of 

 a plot of cabbages in my garden at Wilmington 

 .in Delaware. I planted in dry weather, and, 

 as I had always ^one, in such cases, I watered 

 the plants heavily ; but, being called away for 

 some purpose, I left one row unwatered, and it 

 happened, that it so continued without my ob 

 serving it till the next day. The sun had so 

 completely scorched it by the next night, that, 

 when I repeated my watering of the rest, I left 

 it, as being unworthy of my care, intending to 

 plant some other thing in the ground occupied 

 by this dead row. But, in a few days, I saw, 

 that it was not dead. It grew soon afterwards ; 

 and, in the end, the cabbages of my dead row 

 were not only larger, but earlier in loaving, than 

 any of the rest of the plot. 



80. The reason is this : if plants are put into 

 wet earth, the setting-stick squeezes the earth 

 up against the tender fibres in a mortar-like, 

 state. The sun comes and bakes this mortar 

 into a sort of glazed clod. The hole made by' 

 the stick is also a smooth sided hole, which re 

 tains its form, aad presents, on every side, an 

 impenetrable substance to the fibres. In short, 



