SEED PLANTING 83 



be planted with safety at a depth of from one to 

 four or five inches. 



Seeds of carrot, celery, parsley, parsnip and egg 

 plant are weak and rather slow in germinating. It 

 is customary to plant them rather thickly in order 

 that by the united strength of many seeds they may 

 more readily come to the surface. This point should 

 be observed also in planting seeds in heavy ground 

 that is liable to pack and crust over before the seeds 

 germinate. 



Seed should always be sown in freshly stirred soil 

 and may be planted by hand or with a machine. 



For the home garden and the school garden, and 

 when only small quantities of any one variety are 

 planted, .a machine is hardly desirable and hand 

 planting is preferable. 



The rows are marked out with the garden marker, 

 or the end of a hoe or rake handle (Fig. 47), using 

 a line or the edge of a board as a guide. The seeds 

 are then carefully and evenly dropped in the mark 

 or furrow. 



The covering is done with the hand or a rake or 

 hoe, and the soil is pressed over the seeds by patting 

 it with the covering tool or walking on the row 

 and pressing it with the feet. This pressing of the 

 soil over the seeds is to bring the particles of soil 

 close to each other and to the seed so that film water 

 can climb upon them and moisten the seed suffi- 

 ciently for sprouting. 



A convenient way of distributing small seeds like 

 those of turnip and cabbage, is to take a small paste- 



