334 IIANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



the foot upon the line at each step. When they reach the middle 

 they return rapidly to the end, and, each being provided with a 

 gauge marking the distance, move the line to its second position 

 and walk over it as before, — proceeding in this manner until the 

 whole field, or so much of it as can be planted in one day, is 

 marked out. The indentation made in the ground by the line 

 under the foot will be clear and sufficient for the purpose. This 

 plan has the advantage of being nearly as rapid as marking out by 

 the plow, and of making perfectly straight lines at absolutely uni- 

 form distances. The whole cost of the operation detailed need 

 not exceed two dollars per acre, including the scarifying, rolling, 

 and raking ; — and the straightness of the rows and the finely com- 

 minuted condition of the ground will amply compensate for this 

 in subsequent cultivation ; while the appearance of the crop will 

 be much more satisfactory than if the lines were not perfectly 

 straight. 



Transplanting is regarded by those who are not accustomed to 

 it as a great bugbear ; and the objection that is most frequently 

 raised to this system of cultivating roots is based on the cost of 

 the operation. Until a little experience is gained, the objection 

 has some value ; but as soon as one is accustomed to the use of 

 the dibber, it will be found that the labor of setting out an acre of 

 plants is less than that of weeding a sowed crop the first time, 

 or of thinning out in the second hoeing ; while the effect of 

 the transplanting on the roots is most beneficial, and the crop 

 produced will be enough larger than is possible by the other pro- 

 cess to fully repay the cost. 



In transplanting not only mangels, but turnips, cabbages, and, 

 indeed, all plants, the work can in no way be done so rapidly and 

 so well as by the use of the dibber, which is a stick about a foot 

 long and an inch in diameter, having an iron-shod point. This 

 tool may be made by any blacksmith, and should find a place on 

 all farms where roots are grown. It is universally used by the 

 market gardeners in the vicinity of New York ; and the rapidity 

 with which its work is accomplished in the hands of a skillful 

 man is truly remarkable. My foreman, who has had ten years' 



