342 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



ing being done in dry weather with a dry soil ; maintain- 

 ing that the dews and the natural dampness of the under 

 soil kept up the vitality of the plant, although it might not 

 apparently be growing, or, at all events, growing favourably, 

 but that as soon as rain came it came to a plant prepared to 

 receive it, and the root of which had some hold of the soil. 

 On the other hand he maintained that the plan of transplant- 

 ing in wet or damp weather with a wet or damp soil was 

 essentially vicious; that at first the plants did look un- 

 doubtedly healthy, but that as soon as the rain ceased and dry 

 weather succeeded, then the soil hardened and baked, as it 

 were, round the roots, preventing their healthy and pro- 

 moting their abnormal growth. It is scarcely necessary 

 here to say that this view of Cobbett's is not the one 

 generally held. We have tried pretty extensively the two 

 modes, and have no hesitation in saying that, judging from 

 the experience of these trials, as well indeed as from the ex- 

 perience of others with which we are acquainted, that the 

 best results are to be obtained from transplanting during 

 wet or immediately after wet weather ; nor if a shower or 

 two happen after the transplanting has been done, will the 

 plants be the worse but much the better. The state of the 

 soil and that of the weather are. however, not the only 

 points which affect the future condition of the plants which 

 have been transplanted. Another point to be considered 

 in deciding which is the best of the two modes of trans- 

 planting which we have above noticed, is the great 

 difficulty encountered in making good dibble holes in 

 a dry soil; as soon as the dibble is withdrawn, the dry 

 soil runs back into and fills the hole to a greater or less 

 degree, making it a difficult point to get the plant properly 

 in. Still another point remains to be considered, in dry 

 weather it is not easy to get the plants out of the seed-bed 

 without destroying more or less the fine fibrous rootlets 

 which, are so valuable to the health of the plant. The 

 way in which the putting in of the plants into the soil is 

 done exercises a most important influence upon the future 

 character of the crop. There are in transplanting, as in all 



