News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-23
Setting Out Cabbage Plants.

give ndlI uOZSu uii4eESlIt uISStiOlS lOl
setting out cabbage plants-many Of
them apparently Numerically 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 fbrous 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: ST pull up the cabbage plants, and
if all the fbrous roots are not stripped
off by the operation, I rub them off. l
want nothing but the bare stem or main
roo!." The third will tell you: ~ 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-
phere through the leaves. The evapoR-
alton is most rapid during the heat of
the day. During the night the evapor-
alton 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 the
afternoon of dry, hot day. If the
evaporation is excessive, or the soil is SO
dry that the roots cannot get water fast
enough, the plants wilt, but recover
during the night. When you remove
cabbage plant from the soil and thus
sever the connection of the roots with
the water in the soil, of course the plant
willis in proportion to the evaportion.
In dry atmosphere, and especially
when exposed to our hot sun, the evap-
grafton is exceedingly rapid, while in a
moist atmosphere and in the shade it
proceeds slowly. In any case the plants
wilt. 1t is only question of time and
degree.
Setting out plants during 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
off, 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 off 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 other hand, the fbrous 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
as soon as possible, or to let them wilt
in the cellar, much will depend on the
weather. 1t may well be that n 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 q powder and the
plant destroyed before the roots have
time to callous over and throw out new
fibres to suck up water from the soil. In
the shade in cool, moist place, the
leaves part with their sap slowly and
the roots heal over, and when set ont
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 good, moist,
mellow condition. This can be done by
thoroughly working the soil until it is
reduced to the finest tilth. 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
fill 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 plow, 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 half feet each
way will be more profitable. This dis
lance allows the easy use of horse-hoe,
and you get nearly seven thousand
plants per acre. Three feet by two feet
gives nearly the same number of plants
per acre. -A0ricult1SriSt.