74 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



ones ; although, in small families, this will sometimes be 

 an advantage. 



When any little knobs or clubbings are seen bulging on 

 the roots, they ought to be pared off with a sharp knife, as 

 they often, not always, contain a burrowing grub, which 

 checks the growth of the plant, and which also becomes a 

 little sharp-beaked weevil that eats the young leaves like 

 the turnip flea. 



When the plants, thus pricked out, have attained the 

 height of five or six inches, and have acquired thick straight 

 stems, and an abundance of root-fibres to support them 

 and provide them with food, (which they never would have 

 done if they had been suffered to remain all this time in 

 the seed-bed,) they may be planted out where they are 

 intended to stand, in a well-manured, fresh-dug plot, and 

 in a situation where they will be freely exposed to light 

 and air. The various sorts will require to be planted at 

 different distances from each other, according to their size, 

 also considering whether they are intended to be cut young, 

 or in a state of maturity. The rows should be a foot apart 

 for dwarf sorts ; a foot and a half for the York and sugar- 

 loaf kinds ; and two feet for the larger sorts ; while half a 

 foot will be sufficient for those which are required for 

 young greens or collards in the spring. The distance 

 which the plants should stand from each other in the rows, 

 must be regulated according to the preceding directions, 

 and should be about two-thirds of that which is left be- 

 tween the rows ; for instance, where the rows are a foot 

 and a half apart, the plants should be a foot from each 

 other in the rows, and so forth. In the case of spring 

 collards, every alternate plant may be pulled up for spring 

 use, and the remainder, if left, will afford an excellent 

 summer crop, though this may depend entirely on the 

 option of the cottager, or person growing them. 



The plants intended for planting out, must be taken up 

 carefully with a fork, as before directed for removing 

 them from the seed-bed; the roots should also be pre- 

 served entire, and have as much soil attached to them as 

 possible. 



Both in pricking out, and in the final transplantation, if 

 the ground is very dry after making the dibble holes, fill 



