24 



which answers a better puipo.^e than to place the ma- 

 nure hi the ground. 



Transplanting. — Most gairdeners recommend that 

 transplanting be done just before a rain. It should 

 never be done while the ground is wet, as it causes it- 

 to bake down and .prevents the plants growing, till 

 the ground is stirred when it is dr/j, J\Ir. Cobbett rec- 

 ommends that transplanting be done in warm, dry 

 weather, and says, ^'Therc is a fermentation that takes 

 place, immediatel}' after niovmg, and a dew arises, 

 which did not arise before. These greatly exceed, in 

 power of causing the plant to siriJce^ anything to be 

 obtained by rain on the plants at the tune of plant- 

 ing, or by planting in wet earth/' We have trans- 

 plaiited several hundred strawberry plants in one of 

 the dry est and hottest times in August without the 

 loss of a single plant. We stirred the earth deeply 

 with a spade, and with a trowel, moved- the plants from 

 their original places to the trench. ^lere we pressed 

 the mellow loam about the roots, and then with a pair 

 of shears removed all the leaves that had expanded, 

 leaving only the eye of the plant to produce . new 

 leaves. This last operation v^e regard as very essen- 

 tial. There is a constant evaporation of the juices of 

 the plant through the pores of the leaves, and if this 

 takes place before the fibrous roots have taken hold 

 of the soil, the strength of x}\q plant is exhausted and 

 it dies or lingers out, at best, a sickly existence. Un- 

 der the above treatment the new leaves quickly e:ji- 

 pand giving healthy and vigorous plants. 



We urge upon gardeners, the necessity of stirring 

 the ground just before transplanting, and of pressing 

 the soil upon the roots even to the ends, other^yise 

 the roots exposed to the air under ground soon moidd 

 and decay. Tlie trowel should be used and a small 

 l)all of earth be taken up when possible. If the plants 

 are simply drawn out of the ground, they should be 

 dipped in a semi-fluid mass of covr-dung and water, 

 ?iud be inserted in a liole made bv n dibble, and then 



