MONEY IN THE BACKYARD 19 



wasted, for cigar-box flats, in which tender seeds 

 were sowed, were placed directly on the pan. By 

 throwing old carpets and matting over the sash 

 (which also was a rescued outcast from an old 

 window) a temperature of at least 60° was main- 

 tained at all times — even when down to zero 

 outside, as it was several times after the first seeds 

 were started on February 15. The total cost of 

 construction and maintenance (oil) for that spring 

 was ^4.25, whereas the originator of the scheme 

 netted over $12 worth of plants. No reason at all 

 why you could not do just as well — or better. 



HOTBED RESULTS — WITHOUT A HOTBED 



Another simple means of hurrying crops is to 

 grow them in flat boxes, in the kitchen, or in any 

 sunny window of the house, where the temperature 

 will not go below 60°. I have the record of a corn 

 lover, who obtained ripe ears on June 20 by plant- 

 ing seed in boxes indoors on April 20, and trans- 

 planting to ground that had been well enriched 

 with manure and wood ashes, when the days be- 

 came warm. 



There are countless little wrinkles for hurry- 

 ing along individual plants. For instance, beans 

 planted with the eyes down will make a quicker 

 growth — other conditions being equal — than others. 



HOW TO GROW VEGETABLES BEFORE YOU 

 PLANT THEM 



Potatoes, corn, carrots and probably other seeds 

 can be sprouted before they are planted at all. 



