82 TKUCK-FAKMIKG AT THE SOUTH. 



with satisfaction. One stirring of the soil between the 

 rows, if attended with thorough weeding, will be cultiva- 

 tion enough for seedlings. 



As soon as the plants are large enough to be safely 

 handled, they should be thinned out to prevent crowd- 

 ing, and, as all kinds of vegetable plants raised in cold 

 frames at the South are benefited by being transplanted, 

 they should be pricked out into other frames, and set 

 from three to four and one-half inches or more apart 

 each way, according to variety and space at disposal. If 

 no such extra cold frames are available, and the plants 

 must remain in the seed-bed, until the final transplant- 

 ing into the open field, then the thinning should be with 

 the view to afford them space to grow strong and stocky, 

 and the surplus plants may be thrown away. Before 

 the final removal, the plants, whether pricked out or 

 not, should be watered, in case the soil is dry, in order 

 that earth may adhere to the fibrous roots, to keep them 

 fresh, and facilitate transplanting. I have indicated 

 how plants may be protected from the effects of frost, 

 and may add that it will hardly ever pay the truck- 

 farmer, planting on any but a very small scale, to resort 

 to any means of protection. He should have a suffi- 

 ciency of plants, however, to replace any killed by cold. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



TRANSPLANTING. 



The following remarks are intended to apply to vege- 

 table plants and to those of the strawberry only. 



When a plant is removed from the soil in which the seed 

 germinated, which provided it in its early growth with 

 nourishment and moisture, the contact of the roots with 



