ROOT CROPS. 333 



to Stand, or by transplanting. After several years of experiment, 

 I am induced to recommend the system of transplanting. The 

 plants may be grown in the seed-bed to a considerable size ; — in 

 fact, it is better not to remove them until the roots are, on the 

 average, as thick as one's thumb, or even an inch in diameter. 

 This will bring the removal to so late a period that the ground on 

 which they are to grow may be thoroughly cultivated and cleaned 

 of weeds, so that a single hand-hoeing, one horse-hoeing, and one 

 thorough cultivation between the rows with the one-horse steel sub- 

 soil plow will be all that the plant requires. If the seed is sown 

 in place, it should be sown thickly by a seed-drill, say at the rate 

 of six pounds to the acre ; for, in view of the occasional defective 

 germination of the seed, it is best to secure one's self against the 

 possibility of loss from this source, — the cost of the extra seed 

 being a slight insurance as compared with the general result. The 

 rows should he kept thoroughly clean, and the plants slightly 

 thinned out, that is, so that only one shall stand within the space 

 of an inch. As soon as the fleshy leaf commences to show itself, 

 and at about the third hoeing, the rows should be thinned to the 

 intervals recommended above, and every weed, however small, 

 should be carefully taken out. After this time about the same 

 cultivation will be required that is necessary for the transplanted 

 crop. In transplanting, the following plan will be found safe, 

 economical, and satisfactory. The land having been put in a 

 good state of preparation and thoroughly cleared of weeds, scarify 

 the surface with a cultivator, and pass a roller over it to crush 

 such lumps as may remain, and then rake the field by hand with 

 common wooden hay-rakes. The first operation is the marking 

 of the lines, and I have found that this may be cheaply and rapidly 

 done by the use of a cord (common tarred spun yarn is as good as 

 any thing), long enough to reach from one side of the field to the 

 other. Let one man hold each end of the line, standing at oppo- 

 site sides of the field and near to one side, drawing the line per- 

 fectly straight, laying it in the position intended for the first row, 

 and securing the ends by stakes pressed into the ground. Let 

 them now walk toward each other, placing the whole length of 



