mth some RemarJis on French TrMisplanting. 329 



Many advantages arise in using the boards : every seed will 

 be equally buried ; besides, each line may contain a separate 

 sort of seed, without the plants being mixed, although in so 

 small a space. The first, third, and fifth rows may be sown 

 with carrots, turnips, onions, &c. &c., when the second and 

 fourth may be sown with radishes, lettuces, cabbages, &c., or 

 any seeds that the plants thereof are to be removed, when 

 those of the other rows are advanced in gi^owth. Onions, I 

 find, do extremely well in rows of 9 in. apart, and they are 

 benefited by being earthed up a little, which cannot be done 

 so well when sown broad-cast. The weeding of a bed thus 

 sown will be trifling ; for a Dutch hoe will cut up all the 

 weeds between the rows, leaving the hand only one inch out 

 of nine to weed. Besides this, the boards are very convenient 

 to transplant with ; for the distances of the drills may be a 

 guide for five rows of plants, and the breadth of the boards 

 either for one or two plants to the foot in such rows ; or they 

 may be planted in the first, third, and fifth rows, which will 

 leave them a distance of 1 8 in. apart. 



Being on the subject of transplanting, permit me to recom- 

 mend the system adopted by the Paris gardeners, during dry 

 weather ; they do not wait for rain, as ours generally do ; but, 

 as soon as their crops requii'e removing, it is done in the fol- 

 lowing manner : — Having chosen the spot, they well water the 

 top, and immediately dig it under, and afterwards water the 

 fresh surface, and as soon as it is dry enough it is raked, and 

 the plants put in without any regard to the mid-day sun ; they 

 continue to water the bed three or four times a day, until the 

 plants have taken root. It is surprising how soon lettuces, 

 cabbages, &c., will be well rooted by such treatment, and 

 with what vigour they grow after the first shower of rain. 

 What would have been the state of such plants had they re- 

 mained in the seed bed ? They would have drawn each other ; 

 their first leaves would have dropped ofi^, and a general debility 

 would have followed, not easy to be removed : but, by the 

 French treatment, not a leaf will be lost. Now, if we consider 

 the principle, it is simply this : that every plant placed in the 

 sun in water will in no way flag, and the continued wet state 

 of the bed for the first few days is similar to it ; besides, the 

 presence of the sun contributes powerfully to the I'ooting of 

 the plants. I remain, Sir, &c. 



S. X. P. 

 Bath, February 6. 1828. 



