148 VEGETABLE FORCING 



practice with many vegetables is to make the first shift 

 into flats, and the second and perhaps additional shifts 

 into pots. A 2-inch pot may be used the first time, a 3 or 

 4-inch the second, and if desired for tomatoes a 5 or 6-inch 

 the third. More explicit directions for transplanting each 

 crop will be given in later chapters. 



Care of plants. One of the greatest dangers in the 

 starting of plants is over-watering. No more water 

 should be used than is necessary to keep the boxes or 

 beds moist. Too frequent as well as too profuse water- 

 ing should be avoided. A fine lot of plants may be ruined 

 by a single careless watering. High temperatures are 

 also disastrous, especially if there is an excessive supply 

 of soil moisture. Proper ventilation is of the greatest 

 importance. See Chapter X on Watering, Heating, Ven- 

 tilating and Shading. 



Damping-off is caused by fungous diseases which some- 

 times play havoc among young vegetable plants. It 

 usually attacks the stems of the plants at or near the 

 surface of the ground. If the infection is severe, it may 

 spread rapidly over the beds and cause many plants to 

 rot off and die. The trouble may be avoided by the use 

 of clean soil, by steam sterilization, and by proper ven- 

 tilation and watering. When the disease is known to be 

 present, watering only between the rows will be found to 

 be a valuable preventive measure. In other words, if the 

 plants are kept dry there will be less danger of the fungus 

 entering the tissues. 



