STARTING PLANTS 6l 



roots, particularly at their lower end, that the plants 

 can not be easily pulled out. 



Where plants are set in beds the work can be facil- 

 itated by the use of a "spotting-board" (Fig. 17). This 

 should be about I foot in width, and have pegs about 

 3 inches long, fy inch in diameter at the base and taper- 

 ing to a point, fastened into the board the distance 

 apart the plants are to be set. It should also have 

 narrow projections carrying a single peg nailed to the 



L- L. L-, L- L, L. L- L- L, 



L- L-- L- L- L- A L- L-- L- L 



I/ 

 Y 



FIG. I/ SPOTTTNG-BOARD FOR USE IN COLD-FRAMES 



top of board at each end, so that when these pegs are 

 placed in the end holes of the last row the first row 

 of pegs in the "spotting board" will be the right dis- 

 tance from the last row of holes or plants. By stand- 

 ing on this, while setting plants in one set of holes, 

 holes for another set are formed. If the conditions of 

 soil, air and plants are right and the work is well done, 

 the plants will show little tendency to wilt, and it is 

 better to prevent their doing so by shading, rather than 

 by watering, though the latter should be resorted to if 

 necessary. When plans are set in beds, some growers 

 remove the soil to a depth of about 6 inches and put 

 in a layer of about 2 inches of sifted coal ashes, made 

 perfectly level, and then replace the soil. This con- 

 fines the roots to the surface and enables one to se- 

 cure nearly all of them when transplanting. The 



