334 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



damage the plants. The setters go upon their knees between the 

 rows, setting two rows as they go. They pick up the plant with 

 the left hand, and at the same time with the right open the ground 

 and set the plant, press the earth back, and then with the closed 

 hands press the earth firmly about the newly set plant. This is all 

 done very quickly. Some of my men will set 6,000 or 8,000 plants 

 per day, and do it well. After setting, unless the ground is quite 

 damp and the weather wet, it is best to put at least half a pint of 

 water upon each plant. I know of no plant that will bear trans- 

 planting, even in very dry, hot weather, better than the cabbage, 

 provided it is well watered. In the summer we often put one quart 

 of water on the plant instead of half a pint, and even then it is 

 sometimes necessary to repeat the operation within three or four 

 days. You may think all this pains in setting and watering quite 

 too much trouble, but the doing of the work well or ill, and doing 

 it at the right time, make the difference between' a paying crop 

 and a partial, or perhaps total, failure. 



Tilling. — The plants will need cultivating very often if they 

 are to grow rapidly. It is well to go through them the first time 

 with a hand cultivator, as the plants are so small that a horse 

 cultivator will cover some and damage others. But when the 

 plants are well started, we like the horse and the Planet Jr. cul- 

 tivator. As the plants are but two feet apart, and the cultivator 

 needs careful handling, we let a boy lead the horse. Nearly all 

 the work is done with the horse and cultivator, except a very 

 little near the plants. Although they are very strong and rapid 

 growers, but few plants are more sensitive to neglect than the 

 cabbage, or more favorably affected by extra good care. We 

 had a good illustration of this last summer. The weather was 

 very dry, and we were doing our best to protect them against 

 the drought by extra cultivation. They had become so large that 

 we were, as we well knew, going through them for the last time. 

 The ground was apparently as dry as hot ashes and almost as 

 mellow to walk upon. Few persons would have thought that any 

 further cultivation would have been of any use, so apparently 

 perfect was the condition, and one would hardly have been able 

 to find weeds enough to fill his pockets from the three or four 

 acres. Still I thought going through them again might possibly 

 aid them in their struggle with the drought. But a shower came 



