TOMATOES: INDOOR AND OUTDOOR 353 



still, it may be a small frame placed on the greenhouse bench in 

 close proximity to the stove. 



I have such a small frame in my own greenhouse, and I find it 

 an indispensable aid to my propagating and seed-raising operations. 

 It is only thirty inches long and twenty-four inches broad ; its glass 

 frame covering is fixed on hinges, so that ventilation can easily 

 be controlled ; it rests on thin match-boarding, and this in turn 

 supports moist cocoanut fibre to a depth of six or eight inches. Into 

 this material the pots in which seeds are being raised are plunged, 

 and in this way " bottom heat," which is so essential to the pro- 

 pagation of tender plants, is obtained. 



This object may be equally well secured by a home-made con- 

 trivance. This is a fairly deep box filled nearly to the brim with 

 cocoanut fibre refuse. In this the pots can be plunged to the 

 rims, and the whole surface of the box be covered with sheets 

 of clean glass. The box should then be fixed over the hot- 

 water pipes under the greenhouse bench, and, if proper attention 

 be paid to watering it is fatal to allow the soil in the pots to 

 become dry growth will soon be in evidence. 



The seedlings must not be allowed to remain in the seed pots 

 or pans for an unnecessary day. As soon as two, or at most four, 

 leaves have been formed they must be pricked off into other pans 

 or boxes, or and this is preferable be transferred singly into 

 thumb pots. In order to avoid a check to the seedlings the soil 

 that is to receive them should be taken into the greenhouse a few 

 days before the pricking-off process begins. This will enable the 

 compost to become thoroughly warmed through. 



The pots should be ranged on the top shelf of the greenhouse, 

 so as to promote a sturdy growth, and from this stage it will be 

 necessary to attend closely to watering, so that the plants, in the 

 drier atmosphere of the greenhouse, shall not lack for moisture. 



Frequent repotting into larger sizes will become necessary as the 

 roots find their way through the soil. An important point to 

 remember is that the tomato is a stem-rooting plant, and that in 

 order to enable the young seedlings to emit roots freely it is 

 essential when repotting to bury the stem deeper than would 



