HOW TO SUCCEED WITH ANNUALS 



time, and on cold nights it is a simple matter to cover them. 

 If you haven't these first aids to gardening — and even if you 

 have — make a "seed-bed." Choose a sheltered place, the 

 shaded part of the day, and near enough the house to be con- 

 veniently under your eye. The soil should be light and warm, 

 inclining to sand and eru-iched with commercial fertilizer or 

 sheep manure. It need not be dug more than a foot in depth. 

 Make the soil smooth and level and then sow the seed in narrow 

 rows; you will not be so liable to mix the infants up with each 

 other nor to mistake them for growing weeds. Be sure to 

 have paths at convenient distances so that you can reach all 

 the seedlings without stepping on any. Make the seed-bed 

 large enough so that the first sowing will take up only about 

 a quarter of the whole seed space. Water with a fine spray 

 and keep moist until the seeds have germinated. A well- 

 known rule is to cover a seed four times its depth. More seeds 

 are lost by too deep planting than by too shallow. There are 

 a few seeds which require special treatment. Japanese morn- 

 ing-glories germinate better if one files a notch in the shell. 



After two or three leaves have formed the infant seedlings 

 should be transplanted until they stand about four inches 

 apart. If there is an abundance of seedlings and one has 

 scant time, pull up the intervening infants until the little 

 things which are left stand at the right distance. This, how- 

 ever, is a rather hard-hearted process. If the little seedhngs 

 are growing too tall and "leggy" they may be "pinched back." 

 This induces more root growth. When they are three or four 

 inches high transplant again until they are six inches apart. 

 They will then make rapid growth and soon be ready for trans- 

 planting to their permanent homes. 



Always choose a cloudy day or late afternoon for this 

 operation. Be very careful of the roots. A woman gardener's 



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