TRANSPLANTING 



who remove all but the top leaves of cabbage and 

 cauliflowers, and these two they denude of the 

 upper half of the leaves, and I have found it an 

 advantage in my own practice. It not only relieves 

 the roots of the care of the top to a great extent, 

 but, by lightening the tops, the weight is removed 

 from the stem, which is enabled to retain an up- 

 right position. Strip every other plant of its leaves 

 and it will be standing upright when the full-leaved 

 plants are bending weakly under the weight of 

 their tops. 



Tomato plants are often " drawn " from crowd- 

 ing and form what is known as a " knee " by bend- 

 ing downward towards the ground and then assum- 

 ing an upright position at this point when roots 

 form all along the horizontal part of the stem. In 

 setting the plants in the ground, they may be set 

 deep enough to cover this crooked part with advan- 

 tage. Where the plants have become very crooked 

 and drawn, it is a good plan to make the hole in 

 the form of a shallow trench and lay the plant 

 therein, leaving only the top exposed, first remov- 

 ing the leaves below this point. The exposed part 

 will assume an upright position as soon as growth 



begins and make fine, stocky plants. 



[93] 



