How to Grow Plants from Seeds 175 
REARING SEEDLINGS FOR TRANSPLANTING 
Many vegetables can be brought to maturity earlier 
by starting the plants indoors. The seeds are planted in 
boxes or flats or even in cans that are filled with earth, 
and the growing seedlings are kept in warm rooms or in 
hotbeds. Literally, these boxes are small gardens in 
which crops are grown until it is warm enough to plant 
them out of doors. As soon as the weather permits, the 
seedlings are transplanted to the garden; and because 
they are already of considerable size and have roots and 
leaves developed, they mature sooner than the same 
crops would if the seed were sown in the garden. 
In this way cool-season crops like cabbage, pe-tsai, and 
lettuce may be brought to maturity before the hot 
weather of summer arrives. Long-period warm-season 
crops like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and sweet po- 
tatoes can thus be had earlier in the season and may 
also be matured where the outdoor season is shorter than 
the plant requires for full growth. 
One can often buy plants, ready for transplanting, of 
such crops as cabbages, tomatoes, eggplants, and pep- 
pers; but often these plants are poorly grown and the 
name of the variety is uncertain. The gardener will 
find it to be an advantage if he can grow his own seed- 
lings for transplanting, unless he can buy good plants 
from a reliable source. 
Making flats. Flats are shallow boxes or trays, about 
3 inches in depth, in which seedlings are grown. They 
are most easily made by sawing off the bottom part of 
boxes of suitable sizes. Or they can be made from 
