HANDLING SEEDS. 167 



been used in southern California for several years without 

 mildewing, and it will hold water by the pailful. 



Handling of Seedlings. As has been hinted already, 

 seedlings grown by artificial heat or protection should be 

 brought along by such adjustment of heat hoisture and 

 fresh air that they are of good healthy color and sturdy 

 growth. It is common practice to transplant the seedlings 

 when quite small to other boxes of rather rich soil, in 

 which they are more widely spaced, and to continue the 

 growth with the heat for a time and then move the box to 

 a cold frame, giving them progressively more air and less 

 protection until they acquire a hardiness for the open air. 

 In the farm garden these every-day coddling arts of the 

 plantsman are apt to be neglected, and it will answer very 

 well to thin out the plants enough in the original seed- 

 boxes, and to harden them by gradually increasing the 

 exposure in the declining heat of the hot-bed, and then 

 under slight shelter in the open air, until the time comes 

 for their removal to open ground. If, however, there is 

 likely to be some time before planting out, the trans- 

 planting from the seed-box to a protected bed in the open 

 air will allow the postponement of transplanting to gar- 

 den or field until a considerably later date. It is a mis- 

 take to hold to long in the hot-bed or frame with the idea 

 of gaining time by having large plants to transplant. 

 Good, sturdy plants, well used to fresh air and the lower 

 temperatures, will make the best records in the open. 



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 mois- 

 ture conditions 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 afterward %re essential 

 because of considerations already described. The ju- 

 dicious use of water at transplanting 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 accompa- 



