TRANSPLANTING, POTTING AND REPOTTING 37 
to describe the operation — but a little practice will 
make one reasonably efficient at it. 
When the flat is completed, jar it slightly to level 
the surface and give a watering, being careful, how- 
ever, to bend down the plants as little as possible. 
Set the plants on a level surface, and if the sun 
is bright, shade with newspapers during the middle 
of the day for two or three days. 
From now on until ready for potting, keep at the 
required temperature, as near as possible, and water 
thoroughly on bright mornings when necessary, 
but only when the drying of the surface shows that 
the soil needs it. Above all, give all the air pos- 
sible, while maintaining the necessary heat. The 
quality of the mature plants will depend more upon 
this precaution than upon anything else in the way 
of care. 
The little seedlings are sometimes put from the 
seed flat directly into small pots. I strongly advise 
the method described above. The flats save room 
and care, and the plants do much better for a few 
weeks than they will in pots. Where room is 
scarce, it is well to transplant cuttings into flats in- 
stead of potting them off. As soon, however, as 
either the transplanted plants or cuttings begin to 
crowd in the flats, they must be put into pots. How 
soon this will be depends largely, of course, upon 
the amount of room they have been given. As 
many as a hundred are often set in a flat 13xI9 
