﻿24 BULLETIN 16, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



When transplanting, so far as possible use only good, strong plants 

 of uniform size. The plants should be kept straight and the roots 

 well mulched and protected from the drying wind and sun in order to 

 retain their vitality as much as possible, which will help materially 

 in insuring a good start in growing. In the flue-cured districts the 

 greater portion of the crop is transplanted by hand in a natural 

 season, using a peg for making holes and pressing the earth to the 

 roots. But more or less setting with water in times of drought is 

 resorted to almost every year in some sections. For this purpose a 

 special hand planter is often used. This is an effective and inex- 

 pensive implement. It has the merit of putting the water imme- 



Fig. 5. — A 2-hcrse machine transplanter at work. A machine of this kind may be 

 seen here and there in the flue-cured tobacco district, particularly in the New 

 Belt section. 



diately around the roots where needed, and it is thought that the 

 plants grow better than when set and hand watered with dippers. 

 The 2-horse machine setter is in use to a limited extent in some neigh- 

 borhoods, but, of course, is adapted only to smooth fields and soft 

 land. A view of one of these machine setters at work in Snow 

 County, N. C, is shown in figure 5. The expense of machine setting 

 is about the same as for hand setting, but there is the advantage of 

 being able to go ahead with the setting when the plants are right, 

 independently of the weather. The water is put at the roots and the 

 plants live as well or better than hand-set plants. 



In from three to five days after the field is set out it should be 

 gone over again and carefully replanted with the best plants avail- 



