SETTING OUT PLANTS. 1 35 



it firmly against the roots ; next, fill it evenly, and then, 

 with the thumb and finger of both hands, put your whole 

 weight on the soil on each side of the plant — as close to it 

 as possible — and press until the crown or point from which 

 the leaves start is just even with the surface. If you can 

 pull the plant up again by 

 its leaves, it is not firm 

 enough in the ground. If 

 a man uses brain and eye, 

 he can learn to work very 

 rapidly. By one dexterous 

 movement he scoops the ex- 

 cavation with a trowel. By 

 a second movement, he 

 makes the earth firm against 



The Proper Method. 



the lower half of the roots. 



By a third movement, he fills the excavation and settles 

 the plant into its final position. One workman will often 

 plant twice as many as another, and not v/ork any harder. 

 Negro women at Norfolk, Virginia, paid at fifty cents per 

 day, will often set two or three thousand. Many North- 

 em laborers, who ask more than twice that sum, will not 

 set half as many plants. I have been told of one man, 

 however, who could set 1,000 per hour. I should examine 

 his work carefully, however, in the fear that it was not well 

 done. 



If the ground is so flat that water lies upon it in wet sea- 

 sons, then throw it up into beds with a plow, thus giving the 

 plants a broad, level surface on which to grow ; for I think 

 the best success will generally be obtained with level cul- 

 ture, or as near an approach to it as possible. 



Always make it a point to plant in moist, freshly stirred 

 earth. Never let the roots come in contact with dry, lumpy 



