CHAPTER XVII 



Seeding the Flats 



So far we have worked without tools, and to tell the truth, 

 of real tools we shall need almost none. We had to have a 

 saw and a knife to make the flats ; but then we were carpen- 

 tering. Now that we are really gardening, we have used a 

 trowel to fill the flats, though we could have got along with- 

 out it. Put it down as a convenience, however, adding that 

 the best trowel for fiat-gardening is the small mason's trowel, 

 flat, and diamond-shaped. The flat blade helps in smooth- 

 ing the surface of the earth, and the sharp, straight point 

 will be useful in lifting the tiny plants, a few weeks from 

 now. Yet after all, in half an hour a clever boy or girl can 

 make a tool that is better than anything else for the work 

 that we are to do. 



Get a piece of wood about seven inches long; a little 

 more or less will not matter. It should be about half an 



Fig. 66. — The "seed-trowel," a useful tool for flat-gardening. Any one 

 can whittle one out of a piece of hard wood. 



inch in diameter, and should best have a hard, close grain. 

 Hard wood, while more difficult to work, will take and keep 

 a better point and edge. I made my trowel out of the handle 

 of a little sink-mop that was used for washing bottles. Now 

 whittle one end into the shape of a sharpened pencil of which 

 the lead shows for nearly an inch. Next, flatten the other 



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