284 



stand just twelve inches apart, Robert made a marker, as he 

 called it. I called it " Nelson's Patent Lettuce-planter." It 

 was simply a ten-foot strip of board, having small pointed 

 wooden pegs fastened to it every twelve inches. By holding 

 this over the soil and letting it fall, ten small holes were 

 made in the soft earth. Into these the roots of the plants 

 were dropped, and with a slight pressure of the fingers they 

 were fastened upright in the ground. The planter was then 

 used again, and so on. After trying it a few times they 

 became quite expert, and when I came out to see them they 

 were setting out the plants at the rate of three a minute. 

 When I again went out, to call Robert in to dinner, the 

 entire three thousand five hundred had been set out, and 

 they had begun again on the lot of plants that were still 

 growing in the pots and boxe^. But here they met with a 

 difficulty. The plants were growing so close together that 

 on pulling them apart they were found to be drawn up very 

 thin and weak. 



" So much for not knowing that they should be planted 

 out in a frame to give them more room, and make them 

 stocky. They quite starved each other, and are valueless. 

 We are a long way behind our forty-three thousand plants, 

 Harriet." 



" I know it ; but can we not try again? Can we not sow 

 more seed, and transplant them before they are too old?" 



