v.] 



CULTIVATION IN GENERAL. 



into it. There is a fermentation that takes place immediately after 

 moving, and a dew arises, which did not arise before. These greatly 

 exceed, in power of causing the plant to strike, anything to be 

 obtained by rain on the plants at the time of planting or by plant- 

 ing in wet earth. Cabbages and Ruta Baga (or Swedish Turnip) 

 I have proved, in innumerable instances, will, if planted in freshly, 

 moved earth, under a burning sun, be a great deal finer than those 

 planted in wet ground, or during rain. The causes are explained 

 in the foregoing paragraph ; and there never was a greater, though 

 a most popular, error than that of waiting for a shower, in order 

 to set about the work of transplanting. In all the books that I 

 have read, without a single exception ; in the English Gardening 

 books ; in the English Farmer's Dictionary, and many other works 

 on English Husbandry ; in the Encyclopoedia ; in short, in all the 

 books on husbandry and on gardening that I have ever read, English 

 and French, this transplanting in showery iceather is recommended. 



99- If you transplant in hot weather, the leaves of the plants 

 will be scorched ; but the hearts will live ; and the heat, assisting 

 the fermentation, will produce new roots in twenty-four hours, and 

 new leaves in a few days. Then it is that you see fine vegetation 

 come on. If you plant in wet, that wet must be follow^ed by dry ; 

 the earth, from being moved in wet, contracts the mortary nature ; 

 hardens first, and then cracks ; and the plants wall stand in a 

 stunted state till the ground be moved about them in dry weather. 

 If I could have my wish in the planting of a piece of cabbages, 

 ruta baga, lettuces, or almost anything, I would find the ground 

 perfectly dry at top ; I would have it dug deeply ; plant imme- 

 diately ; and have no rain for three or four days. I would prefer 

 no rain for a month, to rain at the time of planting. 



100. This is a matter of primary importance. How many crops 

 are lost by icaitingfor a shower! And, when the showier comes, 

 the ground is either not dug, or it has been dug for some time, and 

 the benefit of the fermentation is wholly lost. 



101. 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 re- 

 moval ; a more particular notice of which will be taken as w e 

 proceed in the Lists of the Plants. 



102. In the act of transplanting, the main things are to take care 



