114 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 TRANSPLANTING. 



Transplanting is an operation of great importance ; the 

 condition of the plant, the state of the soil, and of the 

 atmosphere, have much to do with its success, independ- 

 ently of the simple mechanical operation. It is not very 

 easy to instruct the uninitiated as to what the proper 

 condition of the plant should be ; experience in this 

 being, as in everything else, the best teacher. Attention 

 to keeping the seed-bed clear of weeds, the "topping" 

 of plants when they get too tall, and careful digging up 

 of them so as to preserve the root fibres, will all greatly 

 assist. We cannot always get the soil in the proper con- 

 dition of moisture to receive plants at the time trans- 

 planting should be performed, but to make up for the 

 want of moisture, planting should be delayed always 

 until late in the afternoon, unless in cloudy weather. It 

 is also of great importance that the ground be freshly 

 plowed ; the moist soil thus brought to the surface will 

 induce the formation of root fibres in one night in warm 

 weather, after which the plants are comparatively safe ; 

 but if they be allowed to wilt before the new roots begin 

 to be emitted, and continued dry weather ensues, then 

 nothing will save them but having recourse to watering, 

 which, however, should only be done in case of dire 

 necessity. In planting, such plants as Cabbage, Lettuce 

 and Celery, each man is provided with a boy, who car- 

 ries the plants in a basket, and whose duty is to drop 

 the plant on the line at the proper distance before 

 the planter. In planting, a hole is made by the dibber 

 about the depth of the root ; the plant being inserted, 

 the soil is then pressed close to the root ; the hole thus 

 made by the displacement of the soil is again filled up by 

 one stroke of the dibber. In dry weather we still further 



