252 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



should be careful and painstaking, as the plants need to 

 be put in the proper depth, the roots straight and the 

 soil well firmed around each plant and no unfilled space 

 beneath the plant to dry out. A crew should plant from 

 an acre to an acre and a half per day, according to the 

 condition of the land and the proper oversight of the 

 force. This mode of planting leaves the plants from four 

 to six inches below the general level. There are about 

 20,000 plants to the acre, of which perhaps one-tenth do 

 not reach maturity even under favorable conditions. 



Crowding. The next operation is called crowding, 

 which is done by a tool made as follows : Take a common 

 iron or steel cultivator, take the standards and shovels 

 off, then take two pieces of steel one-fourth of an inch 

 thick, six inches wide and four feet long. Sharpen one 

 edge of each piece and bolt to the outside frames of the 

 cultivator so that the tops of the steel bars are about even 

 with the top of the frame and on top of the rear half of 

 each, add eight or ten inches of heavy sheet iron. The 

 Front of these blades should be from five to six inches 

 apart and the rear about 30 inches. In a week or ten days 

 after planting, hitch two steady horses to this tool and 

 crowd the dirt away from each side of the rows. This 

 kills the new weeds just starting and covers up all in the 

 middle of the rows and leaves a ridge of loose soil. Fol- 

 low this by going over each row and filling in all the 

 missing plants with strong, vigorous ones and uncover any 

 plants covered by clods or loose dirt; then take a light, 

 narrow hoe and draw between each plant. When plants 

 get larger, work the soil back to them to prevent spread- 

 ing. Keep well tilled, and soil moist by irrigation if 

 necessary. , 



Bleaching. There is some bleaching with boards set on 

 edge on each side of the rows secured by stakes made of 

 lath, stuck in the ground and tied together at the top, but 

 it is done mostly by banking the light, loose peat soil up 

 to the plants. This is done by a machine made the re- 

 verse of the crowded described for first use, and much 



