THE AMERICAN GARDENER. 19 



you do this work in wet weather, or when the ground 

 is wet, the work cannot be well done. It is no matter 

 what tlie plant is, whether it be a cucumber plant, or an 

 oak tree. It has been observed, as to seeds, that they 

 like the earth to touch them in every part, and to lie 

 close about them. It is the same witii roots. One half 

 of the bad growth that we see in orchards arises from 

 negligence in the planting; from tumbling the earth 

 carelessly in upon the roots. The earth should be fine 

 as possible ; for, if it be not, part of the roots will re- 

 main untouched by the earth. If ground be wet, it can- 

 not be fine. And, if mixed wet, it will remain in a 

 sort of mortar, and will cling and bind together, and 

 will leave more or less of cracks when it becomes dry. 



If possible, therefore, transplant when the ground is 

 not wet ; but, here again, as in the case of sowing, let 

 it be dug, or deeply moved and well broken, immedi- 

 ately before you transplant into it. There is a fermen- 

 tation that takes place immediately after moving, and a 

 dew arises which did not take place before. These 

 greatly exceed, in power of causing the plant to strike, 

 anything to be obtained by rain on the plants at the 

 time of planting, or by planting in wet earth. Cab- 

 bages and ruta-baga (or Swedish turnip), I have proved 

 in innumerable instances, will, if planted in freshly- 

 moved earth, under a burning sun, be a great deal finer 

 than those planted in wet ground, or during rain. There 

 never was a greater, though most popular error, than 

 that of waiting for a shower in order to set about the 

 work of transplanting. 



If you transplant in hot weather, the leaves of the 

 plants will be scorched ; but the hearts will live ; and 

 the heat assisting the fermentation, will produce new 

 roots in twenty-four hours, and new leaves in a few days. 

 Theii it is that you see fine vegetation come on. If you 

 plant in wet, that wet must be followed by dry ; the 

 earth, from being moved in wet, contracts the mortary 

 nature ; hardens first, and then cracks ; and the plants 



