510 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 



a large scale, by the root-washing machine, which has already been described, to^rether 

 with the mode of using it. ^ 



3138. Various manual labours and operations might be added ; such as slicing turnips 

 chopping them with the chopping-hoe (2572.) in the fields; culling straw or hay into 

 chafF; bruising beans or other grain, or whins, or thistles, between rollers ; pushino- a 

 drill-barrow, &c. ; all which require only bodily exertion, with very little' skill, bemg 

 performed by the aid of machines, which, in describing, we have also indicated the mode 

 of working. (2537. to 2583.) 



Sect. III. Agricultural Operations tvith Plants. 



3139. Agricultural operations with the vegetable kingdom rank higher than those with the 

 soil or machines, as requiring not only strength, but some of them a considerable degree 

 of skill. ^ 



3140. Weeding, however simple an operation, requires a certain degree of botanical 

 skill to know what to weed or extract. These are such plants as it is not desired to cul- 

 tivate. The operation is performed in various ways : by the hand simply ; by the hand, 

 aided by a broad-pointed knife, or a bit of iron hoop ; by the hand, aided by gloves 

 tipped with iron ; by pincers, as in weeding tall weeds from growing corn, or close- 

 hedges, or out of water ; and by the aid of forks, spuds, or other weeding-tools. In 

 weeding, it is essential that the weeder know at sight the plants to be left from such as 

 are to be removed, which in agriculture is generally a matter of no difficulty, as, how- 

 ever numerous the weeds, the cultivated plants are but few. In weeding ferns, thistles, 

 nettles, &c. from pasture lands, it has been found that breaking or bruising them over 

 renders the roots much less liable to spring again the same season, than cutting or even 

 pulling them up. For this sort of weeding the pincers seem well adapted. 



3141. Thinning or reducing the number of plants on any surface is sometimes per- 

 formed by hand, but most generally with the hoe. Thinning, to be perfectly performed, 

 ought to leave the plants at regular distances ; but as this can seldom be done, owing to 

 the irregularity with which seeds come up, whether sown in drills or broadcast, an 

 attempt to compensate the irregularity is made by a similar irregularity in the distances 

 allowed between the plants at such places. Thus, if turnips in rows are to be thinned 

 out to nine inches' distance in the row, and a blank of eighteen inches or two feet occurs, 

 the last two plants on each side of the blank may be left at half the usual distance, or less, 

 by which means each plant having ample room on one side, they will grow nearly as large 

 as if left at the usual distance. The same principle is to be attended to in thinnino- 

 broadcast crops, or trees in a plantation. Thinning may be perforaied in moist weather ; 

 but dryness is greatly to be preferred, especially where the hoe is used. 



3142. Planting is the operation of inserting plants in the soil with a view to their 

 growth, and the term is also applied to the insertion of seeds, roots, or bulbs, when these 

 are inserted singly. 



3143. Planting, as applied to seeds and tubers, as beans, potatoes, &c. is most frequently 

 performed in drills, but sometimes also by making separate holes with the dibber. In 

 either case, the seeds or sets are deposited singly at regular distances, and covered by raking 

 or harrowing, with or without pressure, according to the greater or less looseness of the soil, 

 and to its dryness or moisture. In general, planting seeds or tubers in drills, or in single 

 openings made by a draw-hoe or spade, is greatly preferable to planting with the dibber ; 

 because, in the latter case, the earth can seldom be placed in close and somewhat firm 

 contact with the seed or set, a circumstance essential to its speedy germination and 

 vigorous future growth. 



3144. Planting, as applied to plants already originated, is commonly termed trans- 

 planting. Transplanting may be considered as involving four things : first, the pre- 

 paration of the soil to which the plant is to be removed ; secondly, the removal of the 

 plant ; thirdly, its preparation ; and, fourthly, its insertion in the prepared soil. Pre- 

 paration of the soil implies, in all cases, stirring, comminution, and mixing ; and some- 

 times the addition of manure or compost, according to the nature of the soil and plants 

 to be inserted. The removal of the plant is generally effected by loosening the earth 

 around it, and then drawing it out of the soil with the hand ; in all cases avoiding, as 

 much as possible, to break or bruise, or otherwise injure, the roots. In the case of small 

 seedling plants, merely inserting the spade, and raising the portion of earth in which they 

 grow, will suffice ; but, in removing large plants, it is necessary to dig a trench round, 

 or on one side of, the plant. In some cases, the plant may be lifted with a ball or mass 

 of earth, containing all or great part of its roots ; and in others, as in the case of large 

 shrubs or trees, it may be necessary to open the soil around them a year previously to 

 their removal, and cut the larger roots at a certain distance from the plant, in order that 

 they may throw out fibres to enable them to support the operation of transplantation. By 

 two years' previous preparation, and the use of a machine to be afterwards described, very 

 large trees of such kinds as stole may be removed ; but resinous trees seldom succeed. 



