DIFFERENT. MODES OF PLANTING. 377 



surface. The plough on returning throws the soil of the 

 next furrow over the roots, and thus completely covers 

 them up, and the man superintending the planting fol- 

 lows, and finishes the work by placing his foot obliquely 

 against the furrow slice at the place where the crown of 

 the plant appears above the ground. By this method 

 children can be employed for laying out the plants in the 

 furrow, the man being required merely for finishing off, 

 and generally superintending the work ; at the same time, 

 it is more likely to be better done than by the ordinary 

 process of dibbling, in which the young plants are too 

 commonly thrust into the holes in a careless manner, 

 and their roots doubled up, instead of spread out as in 

 the opened furrow. 



It is not, however, necessary, any more than with the pre- 

 ceding crop the kohl-rabi that cabbages should always 

 be grown by transplantation in the manner now described; 

 they may equally well be sown in the field as turnips, and 

 treated exactly in the same way. In this case they re- 

 quire to be sown at a very early period if they are ex- 

 pected to reach their full growth at the usual time, and 

 we all know the difficulty of getting any large extent of 

 our farms into sufficient order and tilth for such crops at 

 the early season February or March at which this crop 

 would require to be sown. They offer to our improved 

 system of farming advantages in following up crops, from 

 their being ready at any season, which the ordinary root 

 crops do not possess, as it is practically impossible to trans- 

 plant the latter without injuring the tap-root, upon which 

 the subsequent development of the plant entirely depends. 

 In the cabbage and kohl-rabi the abnormal development 

 is not in the root, but in the leaves and stem, conse- 

 quently they can be removed without regard to their tap- 

 roots at all ; indeed, it is always the practice to nip the 

 end of the root off previous to planting, in order to induce 



