the trowel is used, the operation is the same, except that. the implement is inserted in front of the plant, instead of at the side.

When plants are taken up so carefully that few of the small roots are ruptured and with the soil adhering, or when they are turned out of flower-pots, they will start

Fig. 4.-IMPROPER USE OF THE DIBBLE.

more readily; but they will not make so luxuriant a growth of leaves, nor will they develope as much fruit, as when a part of the roots has been broken. This is not in consequence of the rupture in itself, but because at and above the points of injury, numerous small fibrous roots are emitted, which are capable of providing the plant with an increased amount of nourishment.

The following table by Werner shows the leaf surface of ruta-baga turnips both of plants grown directly from the seed, and of those subsequently transplanted.

Water is the medium by which the soluble matters of the soil are conveyed, through the roots, into the interior organism of plants. We know that the earth, only apparently dry, cannot support vegetation. The more advanced the state of growth, so long as the foliage remains young and succulent, the more moisture does a plant need. An important fact in the relation of vegetation to moisture is seen in the effect the humidity of the atmosphere has upon its temperature. Without more or less vapor in the atmosphere, radiation would cool the surface of the earth so rapidly as to destroy the life of all tender plants. The hottest rays of the sun pass through the air, even when that is saturated with moisture, without heating it; but the heat radiated from the earth, and every object upon it, is intercepted and absorbed by the humidity in the air; and the atmospheric warmth is therefore in proportion to the heat of the sun's rays and the moisture of the air. Like the covering of a cold frame, the moist air admits the heat by day and

prevents its departure at night.

Hence the clearest,

driest nights are the coldest. Hence the driest regions, like the desert of Sahara, have the coldest nights, and the cold of high elevations is due to the same cause.

Prof. Tyndall says: "The removal, for a single summer night, of the aqueous vapor from the atmosphere that covers England, would be attended by the destruction of every plant which a freezing temperature would kill." Humidity and temperature are therefore intimately connected.

Although the heat of the sun causes evaporation from plants, its amount is governed by the humidity of the air and the velocity of the wind. If the gardener could regulate the moisture of the atmosphere surrounding his crops, and make it most favorable for keeping up the proper evaporation, by applying water artificially and only in circumscribed limits, to their roots, he could be assured of success. While he may do so in his greenhouse, there are no means of regulating the heat and moisture of the open air. It is therefore that watering out-door crops, in our hot climate, is more often productive of harm than of benefit.

When the earth is naturally moistened by rain, the whole air is saturated with moisture, preventing a too rapid perspiration from the leaves and the evaporation from the soil. If watering is done at all, it should be in cloudy weather; but it is most frequently injudiciously practised in dry, hot weather, and so circumscribed in extent, that it can have little or no effect upon the atmosphere. The roots are temporarily excited, and the dry, hot air robs the plant of the moisture through the leaves as rapidly as it can be pumped up by the roots. As soon as the temporary supply is exhausted, the plant not only returns to its former state of suffering, but is left more susceptible to injury than before. If the watering is repeated, the emission of rootlets near the surface is en

couraged, and these grow, merely to perish again unless the water is continued. Another injury may occur through the decrease of temperature caused by rapid evaporation and perspiration.

In our hot climate, during drouths, vegetation is greatly sustained by the moisture which is returned to the earth in the form of dews; and in order that these may be most beneficial, the soil should be deeply stirred and continue in a mellow condition upon the surface. When the soil is puddled and compacted around a plant by local watering, the amount of dew will be less from the decrease in the number of points of radiation presented by the compact ball; besides the diminished quantity is evaporated from the impenetrable crust without being able to reach the roots. If watered, the earth should therefore be stirred subsequently, or the watered surface be covered with fresh, loose soil.

If practised at all, the watering should, in hot weather, be applied to the roots and not to the foliage. Evening is the proper time of day, unless in the exceptional case of watering cold frames, when frost is apprehended. It is then advisable to water in the morning. The water should not be much colder than the surrounding atmosphere. Where there are facilities for moistening the whole mass of soil by irrigation, that should not be neglected; for its great benefits are undoubted. But even then, unless the surface is so densely covered with the growing crop, as to protect it from being baked by the sun, it would be best to allow the moisture to reach the roots through percolation from ditches or drain pipes near enough to each other and kept full, than to cover the soil with water. A crop supplied with a sufficiency of soluble manure will suffer less during drouth than one inadequately fertilized, and the latter will require an abundance of water.

The fertilizing effects of mulching the soil are men

tioned elsewhere. It remains here to be remarked that a mulch or covering to the soil will shade the ground from the hot sun and maintain an equal temperature. It prevents the too rapid evaporation and drying of the soil, and is therefore to be recommended with or without watering.

CHAPTER X.

PACKING AND MARKETS.

It should be remembered by the grower and shipper of fruit and vegetables to Northern markets that, while his produce may be of the best quality, it will return him unsatisfactory prices, if put up in packages which present to the buyer an unattractive or unclean appearance. His first consideration, then, after securing a good crop, is to have his barrels, crates, etc., clean and bright, and well and symmetrically made, neatness being very important. The matter next in importance is, that the packages be not only full at departure, but that they be also full on their arrival at their destination. They should not, therefore, be filled in a careless, haphazard manner, hastily headed up, and hurriedly dispatched. The contents should be so placed, or thoroughly shaken down, whenever the character of the article will permit, as to leave no vacant spaces to be filled out by the jarring received in transit, thus causing an empty space at the top, and permitting the stuff to be bruised by being shaken or rolled about within the package. The contents of the barrel or crate should bulge up beyond the level, so that force will be required to press on the head or cover. A slight bruising of the upper layer is of but