201 



the roots more than can be avoided. "When there are many to 

 take up, it can be performed very expeditiously with a plow and 

 team. Let the tops all be cut off within about four inches of 

 the ground with a stiff very sharp grass scythe; and then, if one 

 has a subsoil plow, let the plow run about eight or ten inches 

 deep, if the roots run as deep as that, on each side of a row, 

 about eight inches from the row ; and then a third furrow, with the 

 handles of the plow leaning to the left, will loosen all the plants 

 so that they can be taken up with the hands without any spade 

 or mattock. When the roots run very deep, those who raise 

 many thousands of plants have a plow made almost expressly 

 for such a purpose, with a very wide wing to the plow point for 

 the purpose of cutting off the long tap roots ; but ordinary farm 

 ers may use any plow, and hitch on a strong team to plow up 

 the row, and if half of them or more get covered up, let them 

 be hauled out with manure hooks. After they are all taken up, 

 they should be assorted, and no little care should be exercised to 

 keep the roots from being injured by sunshine or drying winds 

 while they are out of the ground. If thought best to take them 

 up in autumn, and to keep them in the cellar during winter, as 

 many prefer to do, the roots should be well covered with sand or 

 loam to keep them from wilting. 



ASSORTING THE QUICKS. 



267. The object of assorting quicks for a hedge is, to have all 

 those of a uniform size planted together. If they be transplanted 

 without any regard to size, with the small ones mingled with the 

 large ones, the large ones will most certainly overgrow the puny 

 ones, making a weak place in the hedge. There will be many 

 quicks which are not fit to transplant into the hedge row, and 

 which should be rejected as worthless, or left in the nursery to 

 grow another year. If such quicks be planted with others which 

 have strong, healthy roots, the roots of the large quicks will spread 

 all around where the roots of the small weak plants should be, 

 thus robbing the small ones of their necessary nourishment ; but 

 by transplanting those of a given size together, i. e. : those having 



