THE GARDEN 



over it, after which the pressing-board should 

 be used. If you want the seed you use to 

 grow, never bury it at the bottom of a furrow, 

 after the manner of the market-gardener. The 

 seed of his plants is quite unlike that which you 

 make use of in the flower-garden, and can 

 stand a treatment which the other cannot. 



I have made a practice of late years of sow- 

 ing flower-seed in small beds, rather than in the 

 large beds where my plants are to grow in sum- 

 mer. I find that this saves a good deal of 

 work, because it can be concentrated on the bit 

 of ground given up to the production of seed- 

 lings. Here I grow them until they are large 

 enough to transplant. 



Transplanting should be done, if possible, 

 on a cloudy or showery day. This is work that 

 must be done carefully, for young plants are 

 tender things, and a little rough handling 

 means death to them. I use a stick a little 

 larger than a pencil to make a place in which to 

 set the young plants. This I insert in the bed 

 to the depth of an inch or an inch and a half, 

 according to the length of the root of the plant 

 I am working with. Having made a number 

 of holes, I lift my seedlings from the bed in 

 which I have started them, being careful to 



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