HOTBEDS 29 



large seeds should be sown their depth below the 

 surface. All bean-like seeds should be planted with 

 the eye down ; Coiaea scwndens and gourd seed should 

 be set on edge ; planted flat they are quite apt to de- 

 cay, rather than germinate. As a Japanese friend 

 said, "They are very corruptible." 



Each variety of seed should be plainly labeled with 

 wooden labels, with both the name and date of plant- 

 ing and, if known, the period of germination. This 

 last is a most important memoranda as it advises when 

 the plants in a particular plat should appear. With- 

 out it one is quite apt to expect results too soon, to 

 become discouraged and to commence digging up the 

 ground to see if the seed has sprouted — a performance 

 not at all conducive to successful germination. There 

 is a wide divergence in the germinating period of 

 various seeds; some, especially many annuals, ger- 

 minate in from three to five days, others from five to 

 eight and so on up to the slower growing gourds and 

 hard-seeded plants which require from twelve to fif- 

 teen days. But this is by no means the limit of seed 

 dilatoriness, some seeds requiring a year to germin- 

 ate. These, obviously, should not be planted in the 

 hotbed, but rather in a protected bed in the open 

 ground, or in a eoldframe. 



When the planting of the hotbed or any one sec- 

 tion of it is completed it should be sprayed carefully 

 with a fine-rosed watering pot and covered with news- 



