22 GARDENING FOR YOUKG AND OLD. 



STARTING PLANTS IN THE HOUSE OR 

 HOT-BED. 



In the absence of a propagating house, much may be 

 done in the way of starting early plants in one's dwelling 

 or hot-bed. The principal impediment commonly experi- 

 enced is in the difficulty of obtaining, in the spring, the 

 proper kind of soil or compost to put in the boxes or hot- 

 bed. Professional gardeners prepare the soil with great 

 care the previous year, but if winter is about to set in, 

 and you have nothing ready, excellent results may be ob- 

 tained by placing in the cellar a load or two of any 

 good light sandy loam; the lighter and richer the bet- 

 ter. In the spring, before using it, run it through a sieve, 

 so as to remove all stones and lumps and rubbish. If 

 you have it, mix a tablespoonful of superphosphate to 

 each half bushel of soil; then get some peat moss, or 

 Sphagnum, such as nurserymen use for packing dry it 

 thoroughly, and sift it fine, and to each peck of soil put 

 two or three quarts of this fine, dry sifted moss; mix 

 carefully, and you will have as good a material for start- 

 ing fine seeds as I have ever used. 



Leaf-mould is a very fair substitute for moss. It 

 contains much plant food, is light and porous, and re- 

 tains considerable moisture. By leaf-mould, I do not 

 mean muck from the swamp, but the decomposed leaves 

 and sand scraped up in the woods. Leaf-mould, like muck, 

 varies considerably in composition and value. The best is 

 obtained from Beech, Maple and Oak woods. The leaf- 

 mould should be gathered the previous summer and kept 

 in the cellar until wanted. Before using, it should be 

 mixed with equal parts of sand and sifted. For merely 

 starting plants, rich soil is not essential. Seeds will ger- 

 minate in moss and sand as well as in the richest mould. 

 After the plants are started and begin to grow, a little 



