SEEDS 325 



gardeners use (Fig. 10). In this case such germinating con- 

 ditions as water and temperature can be controlled, so that 

 the accidents of dryness and chill can be avoided at a very 

 critical period. In this way germination is also more prompt 

 than in the ordinary conditions out of doors, so that the 

 young plants get started earlier. Another very important 

 advantage is that the poor seedlings can be discovered and 

 discarded, and only the vigorous, promising ones used in the 

 permanent bed. This enables one to supplement seed selec- 

 tion by seedling selection, and the result is a good, clean, 

 uniform crop. 



The transplanting of the selected seedlings into properly 

 prepared permanent beds is a simple performance which 

 a little practice will make rapid and effective. The only 

 suggestion needed is that the rootlets of the seedling should 

 be disturbed in their soil connections as little as possible, and 

 so with each seedling there should also be transplanted a little 

 of the soil in which its root is imbedded. Of course seedlings 

 may be pulled out of the soil and transplanted, but time is 

 lost in their recovery from this rough treatment. 



