PLANTING. 119 



opposite each mark made by the dibble. The 

 advantage of having 1 the stock plants in light flats 

 comes in here, for the flats can be carried to the 

 bed and the plants cut out there we say cut 

 out, for we usually use a putty knife for the 

 purpose. This is irst run down between the rows 

 of plants in the box, after which a cut is made 

 between each two plants. In this way each plant 

 comes out with a square piece of soil and the roots 

 are disturbed very little. One good man can set 

 as fast as two or three can prepare the plants as 

 described. Where the reach is less than five feet 

 the plants can be set from the walk, but if the 

 beds are so wide that one cannot reach, planting 

 is done from a board laid across the bed, but not so 

 that it will compact the soil. Use a board twelve 

 inches wide and work backwards in planting. 

 Adopting this plan two rows can be planted with- 

 out moving the board. The planting itself is an 

 important item, and many plants will be lost and 

 others injured unless care is exercised. The 

 grower himself had better attend to this matter. 

 We have never found anything better than the 

 fingers for planting. A slight hole is made and 

 the square of earth containing the young plant and 

 its roots is pushed into the loose soil. A move- 

 ment of the hand around the plant levels the soil 

 and firms it and the work is done. Having the 

 beds filled and leveled and the plants furnished, 

 one man can mark the soil and set three hundred 



