Connecticut western news., 1885-04-01
Setting Out Cabbage Plants.

Half a dozen practical gardeners may give half dozen different directions for setting out cabbage plants-many of them apparently diametrically opposed to each other. The first man may say: Select rainy day. Be very careful in forking up the plants, so as to save all the fibrous roots, and let as much soil adhere to them as you can. Set i'm. mediately, and the plants will hardly feel the moving" The second may tell you: "I pull up the cabbage plants, and if all the fbrous roots are not stripped of by the operation, rub them of. I want nothing but the bare stem or main roo.." The third will tell you: "I pull up my cabbage plants and put them in the cellar or somewhere in the shade, and let them stay there until they are wilted. They do better than if set out fresh from the bed" Cabbages, like other plants, absorb large quantities of water from the soil through their roots, and evaporate it into the atmos- pheIe through the leaves. The evapor- ation is most rapid during the heat of the day. During the night the evapor- ation is slower or ceases altogether, while at the same time the roots keep on sucking up the water from the soil. In the morning, therefore, the plants contain much more water than in tho afternoon of a dry, hot day. If the evaporation is excessive, or the soil Is so dry that the roots cannot get water fast enough, the plants witt, but recover during the night. When you remove a cabbage plant from the soil and thus sever the connection of the roots with the water in the soil, of course the plant wilts in proportion to the evaportion. In a dry atmosphere, and especially when exposed to our hot sun, the evap- oration is exceedingly rapid, while in moist atmosphere and in the shade 1t proceeds slowly. In any case the plants wilt It is only a question of time and degree.
 Setting out plants during a rain is de. sirable, inasmuch as the evaporation is moderate. Setting them out before a rain is still better. Cloudy weather, with the atmosphere full of moisture, is equally advantageous. In regard to preserving the roots or stripping them of, it is better to preserve the roots, provided they are not allowed to dry and shrivel up by exposure to the air. If the roots are kept intact, or if the roots which are broken of a short dis tance from the tips are kept SO moist that they will speedily callous over and then throw out fresh roots, the plants will suck up water from the soil and ''hardly feel the moving" But if, on the otIas hand. the fhrous roots are al- lowed to shrivel up, they had better be removed altogether and let the stem throw out new ones. In regard to whether it is better to set out the plants ss soon as possible, or to let them wilt in the cellar, much will depend on the weather. It may well be that a fresh plant, full of sap, by exposure after transplanting, to our hot sun may shrivel up so rapidly that the leaves may be reduced to a powder and the plant destroyed before the roots have time to callous over and throw out new flores 10 suck up water from the soil. In the shade in a cool, moist place, the leaves part with their sap slowly and the roots heal over, and when set out new roots are formed before the com paratively dry leaves part with the thicker and richer sap.
 Practically the real point to be looked to in setting out cabbage and other plants is to get the soil in a good, moist, mellow condition. This can be done by thoroughly working the soil until it is reduced to the finest filth. We have seen men setting out plants when the soil was so full of small Jumps that as soon as the dibble was drawn out of the ground, the dry Jumps would fall in and 6ll up the hole. The labor is far greater and the chances of the plant living far less. "What would you do?" Work the soil in some way, either with hoe, As the bricklayers do their mortar, or with blow, harrow and roller, until the desired tilth is secured.
 DISTANCE APART.-This depends on the character of the soil and the variety. Small varieties like the Jersey Wake field and the Winningstadt can be set closer than the larger varieties, The richer the soil the more cabbages will it stand per acre. On cheap land and where nearly all the work is done with the harrow, we should plant in rows three feet apart each way. This gives four thousand eight hundred and forty plants to the acre. On rich and more valuable land, two and a half feet each way will be more profitable. This dis tance allows the easy use of horse-hoe, aud you get nearly seven thousand oIanta ,,ar acra Thrae feat Inv two feet