The South Jersey growers, to whom early ripening fruit is the great desideratum and who have a very warm soil, and grow plants so they are quite hardy and can be transplanted with little check, set them in the field very early, some seasons by the last of April; and if the plants can be got out so as to have two or three days of favorable weather to get established before it comes, they seem to be little hurt even by a quite severe frost. The first essential to successful transplanting is to have well-grown, healthy, hardy plants; the second is that they be in good condition for setting, which can be secured by giving them, for a few days before planting, a scant supply of water and fullest possible exposure to air and sun, and then a thorough wetting a few hours before they are to be set.
The South Jersey plan of growing and setting plants gets them into the field in the best condition of any method I know. Two to five days before they expect to plant, the growers go over the beds and, by means of a hoe that has been straightened and sharpened to form a sort of spade, they cut through the soil and manure so as to divide the plants into blocks of six. A few hours before they are to plant, they saturate the bed with water. By means of a flattened shovel they can take up the blocks of plants and place them in a cart or low wagon so the soil is scarcely disturbed at all, the roots in the manure serving to bind the whole together. In the meantime furrows are opened along the rows and the cart driven to the field; the plants in the blocks are cut apart with a butcher knife placed in the furrow and the earth drawn about them.
Plants set in this way often do not wilt at all, even in hot sunshine. When plants are grown in boxes these can be taken to the field and plants taken from them in much the same way and so that they will be disturbed but little. In setting the plants it should always be borne in mind that while sunshine on the leaves of a plant rarely does any injury, it is very injurious to the roots, and the exposure of the roots to the sun or to cold, dry wind, should be avoided in every practicable way, such as by carrying the plants to the field laid on the sides of a box, which is then carried with its bottom toward the sun so as to have the plants in the shade, always handling the plant in the shade of one's body, etc. It is well worth while to walk to the end of the row to commence work in order to secure this. It is attention to such details that distinguishes one whose plants nearly always do well from one who loses a large proportion of those he handles.
Fruit at the least expenditure of labor.—The plants are prepared for setting by scant watering, and are taken up so as to secure as much root as possible with little soil adhering to them. Great care should be taken in taking the plants from the bed, and in handling them, to avoid twisting the stems, as to do so very seriously injures the plants, often to such an extent that they will fail to grow, no matter how carefully set out. Some growers dip the roots in a very thin clay mud, hardly thicker than thin cream, but I have not found this of advantage except, sometimes, when the roots are to be exposed for a longer period than usual and I do not recommend it for general use. In setting, holes are made either with a long dibble, in the hands of the one who distributes the plants, or by a short one, in the hands of the setter; the plants are dropped into them a little deeper than they had stood in the bed, the earth closed about the roots, by pressure from the side. Especial care should be taken that this is well done, particularly at the bottom; the earth should be so firmly pressed to the root that the plant cannot be easily pulled from the soil. In some sections transplanting machines (Fig. 20) are used and liked, but most planters prefer to set by hand and the additional cost is not great. An expert with one or two boys to assist in handling the plants can put out as many as 5,000 plants in a day. A machine requiring more help to run it can set from 15,000 to 20,000.
In the home garden, when but a few plants are to be set, it will be better to put them in after 4 P. M. and use water in setting, but the wet soil should be covered with some dry earth to prevent its caking.
In the greenhouse.—Plants are better set in the places where they are to fruit just before their first blossoms open and should be set in accordance with the suggestions given for transplanting to the field.
FIG. 20—PLANTING TOMATOES ON A DELAWARE FARM
(Photo by courtesy of American Agriculturist)