WHAT VARIETIES COME TRUE FROM SEEDS ? 113 



stable manure rotted to the condition of mould, will do 

 nearly as well. This is spread over the manure to the 

 depth of about six inches. The sashes of the hot-bed 

 should fit close, and there should be some material ready 

 for covering the sash at night either straw mats or shut- 

 ters. We ourselves use shutters made out of one-half- 

 inch stuff, and exactly the size of the sash. All these prep- 

 arations being made, insert a thermometer into the soil 

 covering the hot-bed, and when it indicates a declining 

 temperature of seventy-five degrees the seeds may be 

 sown. Most of the flower seeds may be sown in a hot- 

 bed just as we sow Egg-plants or Tomatoes, which is best 

 done for private use by sowing in rows from a quarter of 

 an inch to an inch in depth, according to the size of the 

 seed, the distance between the rows being two or three 

 inches. Let me here repeat a caution that I have often 

 given in connection with seed sowing: Be sure that the 

 soil used for covering the seed is light (See Chapter 

 XXII on Propagation by Seed for full details). One- 

 half of the loss in seeds is in consequence of their being 

 covered with a heavy, clayey soil. The power of different 

 plants to penetrate through the soil varies greatly. Thus, 

 while the seeds of the Tomato germinate in almost any soil, 

 the Egg-plant a vegetable of the same family requires 

 the utmost care. As soon as the seedling plants have grown 

 so as to attain the first true leaves that is, the first leaves 

 that show after the seed-leaves they must be replanted 

 carefully in soft, light soil, at from one to three inches 

 apart, according to the kind. This will not only prevent 

 them from damping off, as many of them are very apt to 

 do, but they will be much stronger and suffer less when 

 re-planted in the open ground. We prefer to re-plant 

 the seedlings in the shallow boxes already described. 

 They are more portable thus than if planted again in the 

 soil of the hot-bed, though, of course, after planting in 

 the boxes, these are put again into the hot-bed. After the 



