YEGETABLES DESCBIPTION AND CULTURE. 283 



eighteen inches apart, one plant in a place. Choose for 

 this operation such a day as you would for cabbage 

 plants, or do it in the evening. The sweet potato is 

 readily transplanted, and if holes are dug in the mellow 

 bed, deep enough to admit the plant, and the slips, set 

 upright therein, have the earth washed in about their 

 roots by pouring water upon them from the open spout 

 of a water-pot, finishing the operation by covering over 

 with a coat of dry, mellow earth, brought up and pressed 

 pretty closely about the slips to keep the moistened earth 

 from baking, very few will die, even if they are set out at 

 mid-day ; but as the plants would be checked, a cloudy 

 day, or just at night, should be selected for the operation. 



This is an excellent mode of transplanting all plants, 

 and is of great use both in the vegetable and flower-gar- 

 den. If the slips are not washed in as above when taken 

 up in dry weather, it is of great advantage to grout them, 

 as well as all other plants you wish to transplant. This is 

 done by immersing the roots in water thickened with rich 

 earth. It refreshes the slips, and gives them a thin coat- 

 ing of earth as a protection against the atmosphere. 

 Draw the slips when about three or four inches high, by 

 placing the left hand on the bed near the sprout to steady 

 the root, and prevent its being pulled up with the sprout, 

 which is loosened with the right hand, taking care not to 

 disturb the fibrous roots of the mother potato, for this 

 continues to afford a succession of slips, which may be 

 successfully transplanted in Georgia until the first of July. 

 At the North, they should not be put in later than the first 

 of June. 



After the piece is planted, go over it again in a few days 

 to plant over any place where the slips may have failed. 

 As soon as the ground gets a little weedy, scrape it over, 

 loosening the earth and covering up the weeds, but be 

 careful not to injure the young slips. Faithful cultivation 

 and frequent moving the soil are as beneficial to this crop, 



