Rural School Leaflet 



1061 



a row of seed. Sow two or three rows if you think that they wUl be needed. 

 Cover the seed with finely sifted soil from a quarter to a half inch deep, 

 and firm gently. Leave the rest of the space in the box unoccupied so 

 that the plants may be transplanted into it after they are well started. 

 This transplanting process is called " pricking out " and simply means 

 that you take the tiny plants (about an inch high) and set them in new 

 places, an inch or two apart. Be very careful to do this without injury 

 to the plants, and be sure to press 

 the soU fimily around them. They 

 will have room enough to grow 

 until you are ready to set them out 

 of doors in the garden. A south 

 window in the kitchen is a good 

 place to set the flats, which should 

 be kept moist. 



While the plants are starting 

 indoors, you will be watching the 

 outdoor garden plot each day; and 

 finally it will be dry enough so that 

 it can be worked. Begin at once. 

 If the groimd was plowed last fall, 

 it has been broken and crumbled 

 by the freezing and thawing of 

 winter and can be put in shape 

 quickly. If spring plowing must 

 be done, cover the ground with 

 a good coating of barnyard manure. 

 The labor of plowing or spading the 

 ground is always the heaviest part 

 of the work and often is discourag- 

 ing. If you show your father or 

 big brother that you are in earnest 

 about the garden and mean to 

 make it worth while, you will surely have help with this part of the 

 work. After the soil is turned over, begin to level it and to make 

 it fine with a rake or a harrow. One of the secrets of a good garden 

 is to have the soil in the best possible condition before the seeds 

 are sown. Moreover, it is very much easier to work when there are 

 no young plants to avoid. Perhaps there will be several weeks between 

 the time you plow and the time when it will be safe to sow some of the 

 seeds. Certainly this will be true of the seeds included in Group II. 

 Meanwhile there is opportunity to kill two or three crops of weeds by letting 



Hoeing potatoes 



