The Busy Woman s Garden Book 



flats in the house or in a hotbed or cold frame. 

 Usually one can spare room in the hotbed for a 

 few plats of seeds and these should be sown at 

 the same time the seeds of the vegetables are sown, 

 sowing each separate variety in little plats by 

 itself, separating the plats from each other by 

 narrow strips of wood pressed into the ground, 

 and labelling each plat with the names of seed, 

 date of sowing and, if known, the length of time 

 it takes for the seed to germinate. Annuals, 

 however, germinate more rapidly than perennials, 

 many appearing above ground in from three to 

 five days after sowing, though a few, like the 

 Arctotis Grandis, nicotianas and ricinus, may 

 take from ten to fifteen days. This is where the 

 forethought of labelling the seed plats with date 

 of sowing and period of germination is of prac- 

 tical value — it prevents undue impatience and 

 discouragement when the plants fail to appear 

 as soon as we expect them to; but with a mixed 

 planting of seeds of varying characteristics, there 

 Avill always be early comers to encourage one and 



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