TRANSPLANTING IN HILLS. 169 



nied by stirring of the surface or other means of prevent- 

 ing evaporation, or else the plants will dwindle, and on 

 investigation the dead stem will be found to resemble a 

 match stuck in an unburned brick, if the soil is at all 

 heavy in its nature. 



Planting Seedlings. Seedlings to be planted in the 

 field for horse cultivation are distanced by the use of a 

 marker, as described in the chapter on laying off. In 

 small beds for hand work, the plants can be accurately 

 distanced both ways by using a "planting board." It is 

 made of width equal to the desired distance between the 

 rows, and of a length equal to the width of the bed, and is 

 carefully cut, by the use of a carpenter's square, so that 

 the ends are exactly at right angles to the sides. By 

 stretching a line along the length of the bed, and making 

 one end of the board true with that line, the sides of the 

 board will mark two parallel lines across the bed, and 

 notches cut at desired distances in the sides of the board 

 will show where the plants are to be set. If the board is 

 carefully used the bed may be quickly set with plants, 

 which will stand in straight lines both ways. Standing 

 on the board while planting prevents impacting the 

 ground surface and disfiguring it with foot-prints. 



Plants Ready Grown in Hills for Transplanting. All 

 seedlings which it is desirable to grow in groups or hills 

 are very neatly and safely handled by Mr. Adams by the 

 use of inverted sods in connection with his hot-box already 

 described. About the first of April, in Napa valley (it 

 may be done earlier in many parts of the State), he takes 

 sods of native growth six inches square and four inches 

 deep, or he grows in seed-boxes alfalfa sods, which will 

 form sufficiently in six weeks from sowing the seed. He 

 makes a temporary floor of old boards and places it on 

 top of the packed manure of his hot-box. The inverted 

 sods are then packed closely on this floor with the grass 

 gathered in nicely under each sod. Exactly in the middle 

 of each inverted sod thrust a small stick, and after scari- 

 fying each sod thoroughly an inch or two in depth with 



