148 The Principles of Vegetable -Gardening 



depths and at equal distances apart. In order to 

 gauge the depth, nail a eleat of the required thick- 

 ness on a thin block (Fig. 35) and press this cleat or 



tongue into the soil to its full 

 extent : the furrow will then 

 be of uniform depth. The 

 seedlings should be allowed 

 to remain until large enough 

 * ^w whether they are 

 likely to make strong or weak 



plants. Not every seed that germinates is worth the 

 planting. The following figures show that even with 

 beans, which are strong -germinating seeds, a consider- 

 able percentage of the seedlings may be so weak as to 

 be valueless: 



Figures on eight samples of beans, germinated in soil in a 

 greenhouse^ in thirteen days after planting 



Seeds that Seeds that 



produced sprouted, but 



strong did not produce Total 



Number of plants strong plants percentage of 



sample PER CENT PER CENT germination 



1 84 4 88 



2 92 4 96 



3 84 84 



4 84 4 88 . 



5 52 16 68 



6 52 4 56 



7 68 68 



8 76 16 92 



If one desires to know what percentage of any 

 sample of seeds still retains life, he should resort to a 

 sprouting test. This test is made in an apparatus in 



