BRASSICACEOUS PLANTS. — THE CABBAGE. 



85 



transplanting the moment ground is 

 cleared for them, thus economising both 

 space and time. Those intended to be 

 set in nursery-beds during winter should 

 be planted from 4 to 5 inches apart each 

 way, for too thick planting is injurious 

 in two ways— it draws the plants up 

 slender, and prevents the circulation of 

 air amongst them, by which many damp 

 off during winter. Great care ought to 

 be taken that each sort is kept separate, 

 and that all be correctly labelled to pre- 

 vent mistakes in spring. The same at- 

 tention should be paid to Brussels sprouts, 

 savoys, and such kinds of borecoles or 

 greens as may be required early in the 

 summer. Transplanting all the cabbage 

 tribe into nursery-beds is of great advan- 

 tage to them ; it renders them stocky 

 and well rooted ; and as this operation has 

 for its object only the preservation of the 

 plants during winter, it follows that a 

 rather poor soil and open situation should 

 be afforded them. It is of no use, how- 

 ever, to treat the Portugal cabbage in the 

 above way; it is too tender to stand our 

 climate, and therefore is better sown in 

 spring in a moderate temperature, so as 

 to be fit for final planting by the end of 

 May. In cold, damp soils, we have found it 

 of advantage to cover the surface between 

 the rows of all newly-planted-out things, 

 when the operation is delayed till too 

 late a period, with finely-sifted coal-ashes 

 to about an inch in thickness ; they tend 

 greatly to exclude the frost, and absorb a 

 considerable quantity of humidity; be- 

 sides, they render the ground comfortable 

 and clean to walk upon. In many places 

 where the crops are liable to be thrown 

 out by winter frosts, tanners' bark is laid 

 on the surface with beneficial effects. A 

 good breadth should be planted by the 

 first week in November, as little advan- 

 tage would arise from planting again till 

 the latter end of January. A supply of 

 young plants for spring planting out 

 should also, early in November, be re- 

 moved from the seed-beds, and planted 

 out in nursery-beds to stand the winter. 

 In moist situations, the most open and 

 exposed piece of ground should be chosen 

 for this purpose, and, of all others, shaded 

 and confined places should be avoided. 



Under ordinary circumstances, the plants are 

 set in their new locale by the dibber, of which 

 figs 24, 25, and 26 are examples ; but when the 



plants are large, as it is the object to remove them 

 with as little 



Figs. 24. 



26. 



1 



Figs. 27. 



PLANTING-TROWELS. 



check to their 

 growth as pos- 

 sible, the plant- 

 ing - trowels, 

 figs. 27 and 28, 

 should be used. 

 The dibber is 

 too well known 

 dibbers. to require any 



description; the 



broken handle of an old spade forms one of 

 the best kinds, which only requires to be cut 

 to the length of 10 or 12 

 inches, and to have its 

 perforating end bluntly 

 pointed. The trowel is a 

 more perfect implement, 

 and is employed in the 

 removal of plants of a 

 larger size than can be 

 safely planted by the 

 dibber. In using either 

 the pointed or semicircu- 

 lar trowel, figs. 28 and 29, 

 the young plants may be 

 taken up with a consi- 

 derable ball of earth at- 

 tached to the roots, while they suffer no in- 

 jury by the process. A more perfect mode of 

 transplanting by the use of the trowel is that 

 by taking two of these, one in each hand, thrust- 

 ing them down on opposite sides of the plant, 

 at the same time drawing the handles slightly 

 outwards ; the faces of the trowels are thus made 

 to collapse so much as to press the soil about 

 the roots, and hence enable the operator to take 

 the plant, with ball entire, from the seed-bed to 

 its ultimate destination, and to place it in its 

 new abode without the least 

 check to its growth. As we 

 shall have to refer frequently 

 to transplanting, we may as 

 well here show the construction 

 of transplants, which have been 

 long in use, for transplanting 

 such crops as the Brassicse, at 

 present under our consideration. 

 Fig. 29 is called Saul's Trans- 

 planter, because that intelligent 

 horticulturist brought it into 

 public notice many years ago in 

 the pages of the " Gardeners' 

 Magazine." It appears, however, 

 to be an improvement on a 

 similar implement invented by 

 the Eev. Mr Thornhill, about 

 1820, and used by him for trans- 

 planting turnips. It may be 

 thus described : The blades are 

 opened by pressing the lever a 

 towards the handle, when they 

 saul's open outwards, and in this 

 transplanter, state are thrust in the ground, 

 having the plant within them ; 

 a counter pressure causes them to collapse, and 

 to embrace the ball firmly, and in this state, the 

 transplanter being drawn upwards brings with 



Fig. 29. 



VOL. II. 



