FOB, THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



49 



air in good weather, water freely when 

 dry, and thin out to three in a box ; in 

 about four weeks they will be lit to plant 

 out in the Held. Have the ground where 

 they are to be planted, well plowed, 

 fine and in good order ; open the rows 

 eight feet apart with a plow. To take 

 the plants out of the frames, run a sharp 

 spade just under the bottom of the boxes 

 ro cut them loose from the bed, lift them 

 on the spade and place them close to- 

 gether in a cart ; pack them tight in the 

 bottom of the cart to prevent jolting 

 about in hauling to the field. Drive the 

 cart on the ground to be planted, take 

 the boxes one by one carefully out of 

 the cart, and place them in the furrow 

 already opened, about two feet apart; 

 have a hand follow with a sharp knife, 

 and cut down one corner of the box, and 

 remove it in one piece, without breaking 

 the ball of earth about the roots of 

 the plants. Much depends upon this 

 being carefully done ; let hands enough 

 follow with hoes to fill up the furrow 

 with soil, drawing plenty of fine dirt to 

 the roots of the plants. They must be 

 watered if necessary. The after-treat- 

 ment will be to kee[) the ground about 

 the [)lant& and between the rows loose 

 and fine with the cultivator and hoe. 

 Just before the vines begin to run, say 

 in ten days after planting, bar off close 



to the plants with the plow, and in the 

 furrow on both sides of the plants scat- 

 ter a small handful of cotton seed meal 

 or other good fertilizer ; cover this with 

 the plow, and plow out the middles; 

 keep the ground loose around the plants, 

 being careful not to disturb the vines at 

 any time, and when the vines cover the 

 ground no further cultivation is neces- 

 sary. By this method we generally get 

 fruit three weeks earlier than from seed 

 planted in the field. I need not tell you 

 thatearliness in truck-farming is almost 

 everything. The time for planting the 

 seed in the boxes for the crop will de- 

 pend on the season, locality, etc. This 

 much is certain, you can keep the plants 

 in the boxes for only four, or at the 

 most five weeks- after planting the seed. 

 After that time they get too large to 

 transplant safely. The only guide is to 

 use our own judgment and plant the 

 seed four weeks before we expect the 

 last frost in the spring. 



I have written this plainly, and de- 

 scribed my practice so minutely, because 

 I know from experience how hard it 

 sometimes is to get from books, etc., a 

 practical idea of how to do anything 

 that we have little or no previous knowl- 

 edge of. 



Yours very respectfully, 



Wivr. Nelson. 



EGG-PLANT. 



Aubergine (Fr.), Eierpflanze (Ger.), Beeengena (Sp.). 

 The seed should be sown in hot-beds in the early part of January. When a 

 couple of inches high they should be transplanted into another frame, so that the 



Larse Purple Egg-Plant.. 



