372 



SEED SOWING AND TRANSPLANTING 



is dropped, a pint or more of water from a tank on the 

 machine is dropped with each plant, and rollers, which 

 follow behind, press the soil back into place. 



Flats. Shallow boxes commonly known as flats are 

 used in sowing and transplanting early crops. They are 

 made of any convenient size, depending largely upon the 

 width of the greenhouse benches. They are usually about 



Fig. 193. Tomato seedlings in a gardener's flat ; cucumber seedlings in poU. 



two and a half inches deep and of such a width and length 

 as to be easily handled. A convenient flat may be made 

 with end pieces three fourths of an inch thick and the sides 

 and bottoms half an inch thick. One fourth inch cracks 

 should be left between the bottom pieces to provide drainage. 

 In growing crops in hotbeds, flats are especially serviceable, 

 as seed sowing and transplanting may be done indoors. 



