HOME VEGETABLE GARDENING 



THINNING OUT THE SEEDLINGS 



TDARTLY because most seeds may be bought cheaply, 

 * partly because the gardener wants to make sure of a 

 good, full row of seedling plants, most people sow seeds 

 much more thickly than they should. This makes it 

 necessary to pull up a good many of the superfluous seed- 

 lings and this is called "thinning out." 



The main purpose of thinning out is to give each plant 

 a fair chance for normal development. Plants growing 

 in "crowded" rows will become spindly and either not 

 form a properly developed product at all (as, for instance, 

 lettuce) or the crop will be seriously cut short, as with 

 beans and other plants of which we eat the product rather 

 than the plant itself. 



Thinning out is most important work and should be 

 done promptly. How to do it and when or how to plant 

 so that thinning, in connection with some classes of plants, 

 does not have to be done is told under the respective chap- 

 ters. 



