SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER 



Starting Seeds Indoors 



For starting seeds of flowers and vegetables indoors one or 

 more wide shallow boxes is very desirable. It should be of 

 such a depth as to hold readily about three inches of soil 

 ' and have above the soil surface about an inch of board around 

 the sides so that the water will not overflow. One of the 

 most satisfactory seed beds I have used in school work is 

 one of the familiar sand tables so generally utilized in geog- 

 raphy classes. In a great many schools these sand tables are 

 available and may readily be spared for the starting of the 

 seedlings during the few weeks in spring when they are es- 

 pecially needed for this purpose. In the absence of a sand 

 table window boxes or shallow boxes of almost any sort may 

 be utilized. 



The seed bed should be placed in such a position that it 

 will get as much light and air as possible, receiving direct 

 sunshine during part of the day. The soil used should be a 

 good rich garden loam which has been sifted through a garden 

 sieve so that all the particles are in a finely pulverized condi- 

 tion. It should be kept moderately moist but not too wet 

 and should never be allowed to dry out completely. The 

 seed may be sown either in drills or broadcast over part of 

 the surface, and should be covered by sifting more soil over 

 it, the depth of covering depending upon the size of the seed. 



After the seedlings are up they may be transplanted to 



shallow boxes, or better to small sized flower-pots. For 



school use I have found the paper flower-pots to have many 



advantages over the ordinary pottery kinds. These paper 



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