COLDFRAMES 43 



the seed broadcast and either press it into the soil 

 with a board or, if the earth is dry, to rake it in and 

 then tramp it firmly with the feet. As poppy seed is 

 very fine and the work of thinning the plants con- 

 siderable, it is a good plan to mix the seed with dry 

 sand — about a cupful of sand to a packet of seed and 

 to broadcast this as thinly as possible. 



Closely connected with the preparation of the 

 ground and the use of fertilizers, is the selection and 

 use of tools. It is impossible to work a garden with 

 jany degree of comfort and success without the assist- 

 ance of suitable tools. At the same time, a multi- 

 plicity of tools is apt to prove "an embarrassment of 

 riches," so large a number of the gardening tools 

 upon the market are manufactured to sell and to 

 tempt out of the pocket of the amateur, that slippery 

 American dollar, which is never so elusive as when 

 one begins to dabble in soil and the things which per- 

 tain thereto. 



Such tools, however, as are essential should be of 

 the best quality and suited to the hand of the one who 

 is to use them. A good spade, with the blade at the 

 angle most convenient to use — some prefer a straight 

 handle, while others can work better with one which 

 throws the point of the spade out — and a step wide 

 enough for a good foot-hold, is the first tool which 

 will be needed. Following this, a good iron rake of 

 the curved tooth variety, or a lawn rake may be used 



