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Transplanting Outfit

Transplanting Outfit image
Parent Issue
Day
31
Month
December
Year
1896
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

"A team of steady horses, a mau aml two boys, all in their proper places on a Bernia transplanter, constitute the 'np to date' transplanting outfit. Tho extensiva tobáceo growers and market gardeners of today oonsider these tramplanting machines a necessary part of their outfit. The machine sets and waters the plant at one operation, and there is, therefore, no need to wait for a rain. It is a very excellent machine, exactly suited to the needs of these men," writes Frederic Cranefield f rom the Wisoonsin experiment station. The gardener on a small scale and the er, bowcver, raunot afford to pay $75 oc moro fcr a machine that wonld bo used bnt r.n Jionr cr two cach seasou, so the writerquoted adda tho following conccniing t!e dibble, which The Rural New Yorker publishes with illustrations: Tho dibble, or dibber, is still the only tooi employed by the majority of people who reset small plants. The first gardencr probably used the dibble shown at 1. Shortly after the first gardeuer'a fingers wei'e worn olï, he devised another dibber by ontting off the upper eight or ten inohea of i retired fork handle, and sharpening thecut eud like 2. This was used forevcr af ter by this gardener, and l'ymanygenerationsof his descendanti It saved the flngers, but in tho palm of the hand was a very sore spot for weeks nitcr transplanting, and beeidfis ho could not properly press tho soil around the roots of tho plant after it was placed in the hole made for it. Tho roots also wero bunched. One of his descendants improved on t lic fork handle by making a dibber with .1 curvea top or batidle and adding a metal tip liko 3. This was a good move, but the same objections apply to this a3 to ths fork handle. Later en the fork hand le was changed for the spade handle. Then carne the improvement of flattening the shank instead of makiug it round. This was tho greatest advaneo up to that time. The opening in the ground made by this tooi was such as to allow the roots to be spread out iii a fa shape and the soil to be pressed firmly about them. Neither the fingers not the palm suffered when this tooi was used, but alas ! for the wrist. In using it the wrist joint needs to be flexiblo and enduring to withstand the strain. Tlie next and most important move in the ovolution of the dibber was the constrnotion, by a professor in horticulture, of the one sliown at 5. Af ter using it for several seasons the writer quoted does not hesitate to recommend it as tho most perfect tooi of its kind yet devisod. Tho hardwood turned handle ia 2 inches in diameter and cxactly fits the hand. The bladc is of steel 7 inches long, 1% inches wide at the top, tapering to one-half inch, and should be made sufflciently heavy so that it will not spring, even in hard ground. Ifc is not pateuted and can be made by a blacksmith for 50 cents. Soakinc Seed Fotatoe. Here is the story of soaking seed potatoes in a solution of corrosivo sublímate to prevent scab, as briefly told by The Bnral New Xorker: Dissolve 2 ounces of corrosivo sublímate in a woeden bucket, nsing 2 gallons of water, add this liquid to 14 gallons of water, and stir it well. Wash the potatoea, put them in a saok or lino wire basket and lower them into the liquid. Let them soak 90 minutes, lift out, dram dry, and cut for seed. Seed tbat is very scabby may be soaked two honra Potatoes soaked in this way and plantod on clean ground are reasonably rare to bo free from scab. If planted on ground used last year for potatoes that wen affected by the scab, this treatment vonld not be so effective. IU Drawbaelu. "I like living in Alaska well enough, " aid themauwith the fur coat, "but it has its Dasty features. Navigation on the Paciflo coast closes in October, and when you've had an election down here we oan't jollify over it till nexi

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Register