46 GARDEN FARMING 



of the difficulty, in the trucking region along the Atlantic coast, 

 of securing sufficient hand labor to deal with the extensive crops 

 which are now being grown. Up to the present time, however, 

 the immense quantities of cabbage produced have all been trans- 

 planted by hand, as have the onions and beets which have been 

 subjected to this type of cultivation. It is probable that machine 

 transplanting will never be used for onions and beets because of 

 the limited space between the individual plants and the proximity 

 of the rows in which they are set. But when the space between 



FIG. ir. Transplanting machine in operation 



the individual plants is eighteen inches and the distance between 

 the rows is great enough, as in the case of cabbage, sweet potatoes, 

 tobacco, tomatoes, and peppers, it is perfectly feasible to use 

 machinery for transplanting. 



Truck farming has reached a stage where it is necessary to take 

 advantage of every means to reduce the cost of production, and a 

 mechanical transplanter is one of the factors which is bound to 

 play an important part in the reduction of the cost of producing 

 cabbage. It is as well suited for handling cabbage as sweet potatoes 

 and tobacco. Celery, while grown with sufficient space between the 

 rows to admit of using the transplanter, is set so closely in the rows 



