120 THE beginner's garden book 



but not pressing it, until it is within half an inch of the top. 

 Most of our seed will be small ; and for them, before the 

 seeds are in, it should be watered. If you are impatient, 

 water it from the top. Pour the water right on from a fine 

 watering pot, held as close as possible, if you must. Better, 

 put a piece of sacking over the earth, fitting it closely into 

 the corners, and then water. The earth will then not pack 

 down too finely. Best of all, stand the flat in a pan or sink, 

 with the water well above the bottom. It will seep into the 

 flat and climb to the top in the course of half an hour. The 

 earth is then thoroughly wet, without being packed at all, 

 except by its own weight. 



Now see if the level of the earth is right. In any case 

 it has packed a little. Put a little more into the fiat, level- 

 ing it carefully all around. If the flat is very shallow, raise 

 the level to within a half inch of the top. But do not water 

 this layer of soil. Set the flat aside to drain. By the end 

 of another half hour, when all the water has drained away 

 that the grains of earth will not hold, some will have climbed 

 quite to the top. Scatter on, now, about a sixteenth of an 

 inch of medium fine sand, and the flat is ready for the seed. 1 



Review Questions 



1. What is a flat ? Why is it better for raising seed than a pot ? 



2. Describe the making of a flat. 



3. How should it be drained ? 



4. What earth do you recommend for flats ? 



5. Describe how to fill and water it. 



1 I shall advise planting seeds in sand. More of them will sprout, and 

 since sand causes less danger of disease, more of them will live. 



