422 Other Management of the Vegetable-Garden 



Others use paper oyster buckets. A useful receptacle 

 is shown in Fig. 229. It is a band or strip of basket- 

 splint tacked together at the end and has neither 

 top nor bottom. The strip is 14 inches 

 long, and 3% inches wide, making a box 

 3% inches deep and about 3 inches square. 

 The material is cut at- a basket-factory. 

 These forms are nested in the hotbed or 

 coldframe, filled with earth, and four or 



^^whith t°'^°''start ^^^ secds planted in each. They are 



melons. readily moved by running a spade, flat 



trowel or a shingle under them. A box makes a hill of 

 plants. Note the discussion on page 357. 



One of the ways to handle cucumbers and melons is to 

 plant on sods, which are laid bottom up in the hotbed. 

 They are cut into squ^ares of about four inches. A little 

 fine earth is sifted over and between them, in which the 

 seeds are planted. With the heat and moisture of the 

 bed, these sods decay and the plants thrive; but they will 

 hold their shape for a month or more (Fig. 230). 



Old tin fruit-cans are sometimes used for this purpose. 

 The cans are thrown into a fire, when the tops and bot- 

 toms melt off, and the sides are then fastened together 

 with a tack or a bit of wire and are used as forms in 

 which to grow plants. One difficulty with them is that 

 they are too large and take up too much room. They are 

 relatively too deep. 



If the grower has a greenhouse equipment, he may use 

 2-inch or 3-incli pots (Pig. 230) ; but unless he has the 

 pots on hand for other uses, it might not pay to buy for 

 this particular purpose. They are easy to handle and to 



