JUNIOR HORTICULTURAL CLUB. 191 



to do a thing right as it is to learn to do it wrong. Suppose we keep this 

 in mind all the time. 



The seeds of radish, lettuce, carrots, beets, and peas may be planted 

 just as soon as the soil is ready. Beans cannot be planted with safety 

 until about corn planting time. Tomato plants should not be set until 

 about the first of June. The time for planting depends upon the season, 

 consequently it cannot be given exactly. 



Starting tomato plants. If the tomato is selected as one of the chief 

 crops it is necessary to think about the plants to be used. If you are to 

 grow them at home the seed should be bought right away and planted in 

 a box. The box, commonly called a flat by gardeners, is any kind of a 

 box in which seeds are planted or plants set before transplanting to the 

 field. A flat 12 by 16 inches and three inches deep is about right. Bore a 

 few holes in the bottom to allow the surplus water to escape, cover each 

 hole with a piece of paper and then fill the flat with nice garden soil. If 

 the soil is heavy it should have sand mixed with it to make it lighter. Sow 

 the seeds in drills about one-quarter inch deep. Cover the flat with a pane 

 of glass and keep in a warm, light window. When the first true leaves 

 appear transplant the young plants into another flat, setting them about 

 two inches apart. 



Sowing the seeds in the garden. Stretch the line from stake to stake 

 on row one. You will want to have the rows straight, so pull the line 

 tight. With a clean hoe, spade, or other tool open a narrow trench about 

 one inch deep. Do not move the string, for if you do the row will be 

 crooked. Mix the radish and carrot seed and carefully scatter them along 

 the bottom of the furrow, dropping from fifteen to twenty-five seeds to 

 each foot of row. Cover carefully by pushing the soil back over the seeds 

 and do not cover more than one-half inch. Slightly firm the soil a. little 

 with the back of the rake or hoe. The radish seed will germinate in a 

 very few days, but it will take ten days or more for the carrots to start. 



For rows two and three, dig the trench two inches deep and sow about 

 a dozen seeds to each foot of row. Cover about 1% inches deep. Rows 

 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are treated the same as number one. The beans are 

 planted the same as the peas, except that they should not be planted until 

 the soil is warm or about the time corn is planted. In rows 1, 4, 7 and 10, 

 tomato plants are to be set three feet apart. All the carrots and beets 

 should be used or canned before the tomato plants grow large enough to 

 use all the space. 



Good varieties of vegetables for small gardens: Tomato — Bonnie 

 Best and Earliana; Radish — Scarlet Globe or White Tipped; Lettuce — 

 Black Seeded Simpson or Grand Rapids; Peas — Alaska or American 

 Wonder; Beet — Detroit Dark Red or Eclipse; Carrot — Oxheart or Danvers 

 Half-Long; Bean — Refugee or Wardwell. 



Annual Membership, 1917. — At the time of writing this note, April 

 20, the annual membership roll for the current year stands at 2,431, the 

 number at this date being 157 more than the number standing on the mem- 

 bership roll in 1916 at the same date. This does not necessarily mean that 

 the membership at the close of the year will be larger than for the year 

 1916. We can hardly hope for an increase over that maximum number, 

 although we are working to that end. 



