STARTING PLANTS 141 
flats with bottoms made of wire netting, as seen in Fig. 47. 
Use of pots.—Both earthen and paper pots are used in 
vegetable-forcing establishments. Although they add to 
the operating expenses by requiring a larger investment 
of capital, and transplanting cannot be done so rapidly 
from pots as from flats and beds, their advantages are so 
obvious that the subject deserves special consideration. 
The greatest advantage in using pots is that there is 
absolutely no check in growth when the plants are shifted 
from pot to pot, or from the pots to the beds where the 
crop is to mature. With each shift there is no root dis- 
turbance of any kind, and the additional soil provided at 
each transplanting makes possible the continuous growth 
of the plant. Uninterrupted growth is particularly im- 
portant for plants like the cucumber, tomato, pepper and 
Fig. 48.—Cucumber plants growing in pots and in an adjacent bed. 
eggplant. Again, some plants, like the cucumber, do not 
transplant so readily as others. In such instances, pots 
are practically indispensable. 
Sometimes it is impossible to make the final shift to 
the beds at the time decided upon when the seed was 
sown. There may be lack of sunshine or other inter- 
