1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
175 
only persevere, the conquest is certain. Weeds 
of whichever class, should not be allowed to per¬ 
fect their seed. A single weed that goes to seed, 
provides for incalculable labor in the future. 
(See interesting figures in the next article.) With 
these considerations we leave the subject to take 
up some of the weeds in detail, at another time. 
Multiplication of Weeds—Interesting and 
Instructive Figures. 
Did the reader ever make an estimate of the 
rapidity with which plants multiply, especially 
those classed as weeds? A few years ago, while 
detained several hours at a railroad crossing in 
Pennsylvania, by the failure of a train, we went 
into a neighboring cornfield, and pulled a single 
stalk of the Ragweed ( Ambrosia artemisixfolia ) 
so common in some parts of that State, and 
sought amusement and instruction in counting 
the number of seeds. Sorting the average sized 
spikes, and counting the seeds on several of 
each, we found the number of perfect seeds 
grown that year on a single plant to exceed 
16,000 ! Suppose each of these seeds to be scat¬ 
tered and grow, and go on multiplying : in the 
short space of only four years the number of 
plants growing would be 65,536,000,000,000,000, 
or about a dozen plants for every square foot of 
the entire earth’s surface—land and water in¬ 
cluded. But suppose we take the average an¬ 
nual multiplication at only 100, which is far 
below the average increase of most weed plants. 
At a hundred a year, a single seed would in 
the tenth year produce 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 
plants! This is equivalent to 111 plants for every 
square inch of the entire earth’s surface ; or 444 
plants to every square inch of land, if we take 
the usual estimate that three-fourtlis of the sur¬ 
face is covered with water. Let the readers of 
the American Agriculturist apply these figures to 
their own farms or gardens, and estimate how 
long it would take a single weed seed to produce 
plants or even seeds enough to carpet the whole 
surface. They may then appreciate the import¬ 
ance of not allowing a single noxious plant of 
any kind to perfect its seed. 
Arithmetical Note. —If we estimate the earth to 
be a perfectly round globe 8000 miles in diameter 
the following figures give contents and surface : 
Solid Contenis in Cubic miles ...268,083,200,000 
Surface or Area. .Square miles .201,062,400 
Surface or Area. .Square feet .5,605,298.012,160,000 
Surface or Area. .Square inches... .807,162,913,751,040,000 
Transplanting—Why, and How. 
This is the month in which many of the plants 
in the kitchen and flower garden will be trans¬ 
planted; that is, removed from the place in 
which they were sown to that in which they are 
to perfect themselves. As nothing of this kind 
happens to plants in their wild state, it may be 
asked if this is not an unnatural operation. To 
this it may be replied, that all cultivation is in a 
measure unnatural; it consists in giving the 
plant those advantages which it can only enjoy 
under the care of man. We take advantage of 
certain capabilities and tendencies of plants, and 
direct them to serve our own purposes. When 
we dam a natural stream and make an artificial 
pond, we alter the course of nature, b' <, in order 
to do it successfully, we must work m strict ac¬ 
cordance with natural laws. So in cultivation, 
we induce a plant to grow differently from what 
it would if wild, but in doing this we follow 
the laws which govern its growth in the natural 
state. We do not oppose, we only direct. The 
leaves and roots of a plant bear direct relation 
to one another; if from any natural or artificial 
cause the root-growth is cramped or checked, 
the leaf-growth is correspondingly diminished, 
and the plant shows a greater tendency to pro¬ 
duce flowers and fruit. Tomatoes in pots will 
show blossoms when only a few inches high, 
while if sown ill the open ground they will make 
quite large plants before they snow any signs of 
flowering. Now transplanting, no matter how 
carefully it may be done, by breaking off the 
minute root fibers has a tendency to hasten the 
maturity of the plant. It does this in a less 
striking manner it is true, than when the plant is 
grown in a pot, but it greatly modifies its de¬ 
velopment, and flower and fruit are borne much 
earlier. This tendency to early maturity is some¬ 
times increased by two removals; the plants are 
taken from the seed bed and “pricked out,” as 
it is called, into another bed, from which they 
are finally removed to the place where they are 
to mature. Each removal breaks off and short¬ 
ens some of the branches of the root and, after 
the first shock is over, new small fibers or feed¬ 
ers are thrown out which, from their increased 
number, enable the plant to grow with much 
greater vigor than before, and mature much ear¬ 
lier than it would have done if left to grow 
where the seeds were sown. Sometimes there 
is an advantage in clipping the long or tap root 
in order to induce the formation of fibrous roots. 
As the functions of the roots are disturbed in 
transplanting, it follows that the relations be¬ 
tween their absorbing surface and the evapora¬ 
ting surface of the leaves are broken up; the 
plant gives off moisture by the leaves more rap¬ 
idly than it is received by the root, and the plant 
wilts. This indicates that a moist atmosphere 
is the most suitable time for the operation,—a 
“drizzly spell,” when the soil is not too wet. It 
frequently happens that the plants are getting 
too large and there is no prospect of a damp 
season. Transplanting can be done, with prop¬ 
er precautions, at any time. For several years 
past we have been accustomed to work without 
regard to the weather and have been uniformly 
successful. If the holes are well watered and 
the plants are shaded for a day or two, they 
rarely fail to do well. The shading is easily 
done with a handful of cut grass, a burdock or 
other broad leaf, or a shingle stuck in a position 
to ward off the sun during the hottest part of 
the day. Where the plants are few and stand 
thinly in the seed bed, each may be carefully 
lifted by the trowel so as to retain a ball of earth 
around the roots, and removed with compara¬ 
tively little disturbance; but where there is a 
large garden this particular care can not be ex¬ 
ercised—all the operations must be carried on in 
a wholesale way. Where many plants are to 
be removed, they should be carefully lifted 
from the seed bed, separated and “ grouted.” 
Grouting consists in coating the roots with thin 
mud, which protects the delicate fibres from dry¬ 
ing, and should always be done where the plants 
are to remain for some time out of the ground. 
The directions for grouting plants can not be 
better given than by quoting from Watson’s 
American Home Garden, which by the way is 
one of the most reliable and practical works 
ever published in this country. (Price $1.00.) 
“ Grouting is performed by mixing rich earth, 
to which cow dung may be added, with water, 
to the consistence of soft mud, and dabbling the 
roots of the plants in it, not by thrusting them 
through it, but rather by drawing them through 
it, or, as it were, striking them upon it until 
i each root is loaded. A dozen plants may be 
grouted at once; and as they are held in the 
hand preparatory to this process, an inch or two 
of the root end may be cut off.” In transplant¬ 
ing in the large way, labor can be profitably 
divided: one hand can make the holes with a 
trowel, another can drop the plants, and one or 
two may follow to set them. The plant should 
be set somewhat deeper than it originally stood, 
and the earth should be well pressed around 
the roots. If the transplanting is done in dry 
weather, the holes should be filled with water; 
when this has soaked away the plant should be 
put in and its roots covered with moist soil 
taken from beneath the dry surface. We al¬ 
ways add a little dryish soil over the surface, 
especially if the earth used in filling be damp; 
the dry soil absorbs the surplus water, and 
keeps the mass from baking. We prefer 
making rather large holes with the trowel, 
to the use of the dibble, which in making the 
holes for the plant, packs the earth too closely 
for the favorable growth of its roots. The 
proper time for transplanting the different vari¬ 
eties is mentioned in the Calendar of Operations 
for each month. 
How to Save Paper. 
Those correspondents who write us long ar¬ 
ticles upon the way in which wheat may be 
converted into chess, and on the influence of the 
moon upon vegetation should, in these times of 
the high price of the article, save their paper. 
We can not publish such communications. Our 
position upon the chess question has long ago 
been defined, and although we have had much 
talk about the conversion of wheat into chess, 
we have had no proof that it has ever taken 
place. Let us have the specimens and we will 
submit them to the best authorities in the coun¬ 
try, and if they decide that a specimen has 
grown part wheat and part chess, or is in an 
intermediate state between the two, we will 
give it up. Proof that chess grows where wheat 
grew before is no better evidence that wheat- 
turned to chess, than finding a cow in a horse’s 
stable is that the animals have been transmuted. 
Gentlemen troubled with chess upon the brain, 
please excuse us until you have some facts. 
Regarding the moon question, we are only sor¬ 
ry that this superstition exists among otherwise 
intelligent people. The weeds of error are some 
of them very tenacious of life. Melons and 
cucumbers are said to be particularly influenced 
by the moon. The Agriculturist advises to pre¬ 
pare the soil well, keep off insects, and put on 
liquid manure, and let the moon do her worst. 
■--*> <- »a Qcg»->—-- 
Fill tlie Missing Hills. 
A vacant hill will be found here and t-nere m 
the cornfield, at the first hoeing. Unless many 
of them occur together, they are quite likely to 
be passed by as of little account, but it is atten¬ 
tion to small matters that marks the difference 
between carefulness and neglect, and not unfre- 
quently here is the turning point between thrift 
and what is called bad luck. In most sections 
it will pay to replant missing hills with corn 
at the first weeding. In a favorable season it 
will come to maturity. Or pumpkin seed may 
be put in, which will yield choice morsels for 
animals next Autumn. It would be better to 
plant and cultivate these spots even without re¬ 
turn, than to leave them to be occupied by weeds 
which will be sure to take possession, and ripen 
seed for a succession of troublesome crops. 
