PROPER DISTANCE FOR PLANTING 71 



are to be desired ; whether the day is sunny or not is 

 less important. There is a certain definite time, which 

 does not usually extend beyond a few days, when any 

 lot of plants is in the best condition for setting in the 

 field. It is hardly possible to describe this condition 

 more than to say it is when the plants are as large as 

 they can be without crowding and are in a state where 

 they can best stand the shock of removal. 



It will always be a matter of judgment as to how 

 long it is best to hold plants, which are in condition 

 for setting, for favorable weather conditions. They 

 can sometimes be held a few days, by scant watering 

 and full exposure, or in some cases by taking from the 

 bed and heeling in, as nurserymen do trees ; but it is 

 better to set when the weather is unfavorable or to 

 run some risk from frost rather than to hold them in 

 this way too long. The wise selection of time for set- 

 ting is an important factor in securing a good and 

 profitable crop. 



The South Jersey growers, to whom early ripening 

 fruit is the great desideratum and who have a very 

 warm soil, and grow plants so they are quite hardy 

 and can be transplanted with little check, set them in 

 the field very early, some seasons by the last of April ; 

 and if the plants can be got out so as to have two or 

 three days of favorable weather to get established be- 

 fore it comes, they seem to be little hurt even by a 

 quite severe frost. The first essential to successful 

 transplanting is to have well-grown, healthy, hardy 

 plants ; the second is that they be in good condition for 

 setting, which can be secured by giving them, for a 

 few days before planting, a scant supply of water and 



