CARE OF SEEDLINGS 135 



the plants in the seed bed or seed boxes will show greater thrift. 

 To secure better moisture and at the same time great facility in 

 planting out, this method is commended : 



Take common printers' cardboard and have it cut into strips 4x22 inches. 

 By folding these tightly around a block of wood 3 by 3 inches wide and 4 

 inches high, slipping off and putting in a pin, we have a square pot with no 

 bottom. These are pressed flat and packed a thousand in a bunch for conveni- 

 ence, until wanted. When ready to use, open, give a quick pinch on the 

 corners not folded, and the box will stand almost perfectly square. These 

 fit nicely together and can be opened, shaped and set rapidly. Place several 

 rows at a time, drop a little well-rotted manure in each one, press down, then 

 fill in the soil with a shovel, set a plant in each box, then fill in more soil 

 until the boxes cannot be seen. This prevents the air from getting in and 

 drying too rapidly. When ready for the field slip a trowel under and place 

 them on a sled to haul out to the field. The manure serves every purpose 

 of a paper bottom in preventing soil and plant from dropping out, and it does 

 not interfere with the moisture either going down or coming up. It is not 

 so necessary to remove these boxes when planting out, and if we do wish to 

 take them off they are much more easily removed than those with bottoms. 



Planting Seedlings. The points to observe for planting out 

 seedlings in the open air are almost exactly the same as those already 

 given in this chapter for the arrangement of proper moisture con- 

 ditions for seed germination. Depth of planting depends upon the 

 same conditions; firming of the soil about the rootlets is for the 

 same reasons; a loose surface above and frequent cultivation after- 

 ward are essential because of considerations already described. The 

 judicious use of water at transplanting, by pouring it in the hole or 

 running it along in the drill or furrow, is a very important point in 

 late work or in planting out when the season is rather dry, but the 

 use of water must always be followed, when the soil has dried some- 

 what, by stirring of the surface or other means of preventing 

 evaporation or else the plants will dwindle and on investigation 

 the dead stem will be found to resemble a match stuck in on un- 

 burned brick, if the soil is at all heavy in its nature. 



Seedlings to be planted in the field for horse cultivation are 

 distanced by the use of a marker, as described in the chapter on 

 laying off. In small garden beds for hand work, the plants can be 

 very accurately distanced both ways by using a "planting board." 

 It is made of a width equal to the desired distance between the 

 rows and of a length equal to the width of the bed, and is carefully 

 cut, by the use of a carpenter's square, so that the ends are exactly 

 at right angles to the sides. By stretching a line along the length 



