IV. CULTIVATION IN GENERAL. 



99. This is a matter of primary importance. How 

 many crops are lost by the waiting for a shower ! And, 

 when the shower comes, the ground is either not dug, or 

 it has been dug for some time, and the benefit of the 

 fermentation is wholly lost. 



100. However, there are some very tender plants ; 

 plants so soft and juicy as to be absolutely burnt up, and 

 totally destroyed, stems and all, in a hot sun, in a few 

 hours. These, which lie in a small compass, must be 

 shaded at least, if not watered, upon their removal 3 a 

 more particular notice of which will be taken as we pro- 

 ceed in the Lists of the Plants. 



101. In the act of transplanting, the main things are to 

 take care not to bury the heart of the plant j and to take 

 care that the earth be well pressed about the point of the 

 root of the plant. To press the earth very closely about 

 the stem of the plant is of little use, if you leave the point 

 of the root loose. I beg that this may be borne in mind j 

 for the growth, and even the life of the plant, depend on 

 great care as to this particular. See Cabbage, paragraph 

 129, for a minute description of the act of planting. 



102. As to propagation by cuttings, slips, layers, and 

 offsets, it will be spoken of under the names of the seve- 

 ral plants usually propagated in any of those ways. 

 Cuttings are pieces cut off from branches of trees and 

 plants. Slips are branches pulled off, and slipped down 

 at a joint. Layers are branches left on the plant or tree, 

 and bent down to the ground, and fastened, with earth 

 laid upon the part between the plant and the top of the 



