Raising Your Own House Plants from Seed—By F. F. Rockwell, 
Connec: 
HOW TO MANIPULATE SEED PANS AND FLATS IN THE WINDOW GARDEN AND GROW A VARIED COLLECTION 
OF FLOWERING AND FOLIAGE SPECIMENS FOR INDOOR ADORNMENT ALL THE YEAR—THE BEST PLANTS 
IP ARY of the best house plants can be 
raised from seed, in the ordinary 
living rooms or where potted plants are kept 
in a window during winter. It is a question 
whether you actually save anything by rais- 
ing your own plants; in all probability you 
could get them as cheaply and as good, if 
not better, from the florist, but there is no 
question about the fun in growing plants 
from the seed. There is a satisfaction in 
Make a “flat” 12x 15x21-2 in. Over the drain- 
age holes or cracks put broKen potsherds and moss 
Or coarse screenings from the soil, then— 
fill to within half an inch of the top with screened 
soil, pack the corners, and add a layer of fine soil 
having things all your own, and the work 
offers engagement indoors at a time when 
gardening work is slackest. 
HOW TO START THE SEEDS 
Where only a few plants are to be started, 
unglazed pots or seed-pans are often used, 
but much better success will be obtained by 
the use of “flats.” To make these buy from 
a grocery store some soap boxes. A con- 
venient size is 12x15 inches. Cut them 
into 24-inch sections and nail bottoms on 
these taking care to leave cracks between 
the boards or make four or five 1-inch holes 
for drainage. The sides may be painted, if 
they are to be used in the house. These 
flats are better than pots both for start- 
ing the seed and pricking off, as they 
Sas 
A home-made screen of mosquito netting is handy 
for preparing the “fine” top soil 
save care in watering, room, time, and 
trouble. 
The flats being ready mix the soil. A good 
seed soil is made from equal parts of fibrous 
loam from the compost heap, sand and leaf 
mold, wood’s earth, cr peat. The sand must 
be sharp, such as a mason uses for mortar. 
If sand cannot be had sifted coal ashes will 
do very well as a substitute. Should these 
ingredients not be available usea rich, light, 
fibrous, garden loam. 
Over the holes or cracks in the flats put 
a 4-inch layer of broken potsherds, coal 
clinkers, or gravel for drainage. Then run 
through a sieve having three meshes to the 
inch, part of the already mixed seed soil. 
You will then have two lots of soil, one 
coarse, the other fine. Spread a 34-inch 
layer of the coarse material over the drain- 
age material that is already in the flat and 
on top of that, fill the flat to within half an 
inch of the top with the fine, screened soil. 
As you proceed be sure to pack the soil in the 
corners and along the edges by means of your 
hands, because if you do not, it will settle, 
and the waterings will wash down the soil. 
Firm the whole by means of a brick or board. 
Make drills about two inches apart using 
a piece of narrow board as a marker, merely 
pressing it lightly into the soil for a quarter 
inch or so. Sow the seeds thinly and evenly 
in the drills, and cover lightly; the best way 
to cover the seeds isto screen the soil on them 
using a screen which has a mesh about the 
size of that in mosquito netting. A good 
rule to follow when covering seeds is to put 
on a layer of soil which is as deep as the 
diameter of the seeds. Sand, dry sphag- 
num, cocoanut fibre, or leaf mold, which have 
been rubbed through a fine screen, make very 
good coverings for seeds. They never get 
hard or bake, making an ideal covering— 
light, easily pushed through by the tender 
seed-shoots, and retentive of moisture. 
Water the soil thoroughly after sowing. 
The best way is to set the flat in a large pan 
partly filled with water, allowing it to soak up 
from below. This is better than overhead 
Coarse screenings from the compost, to be used in 
the bottom of flats and small pots 
281 
watering because no matter how fine a spray 
is used it is liable to wash the soil. Another 
way is to water through a sheet of blotting 
paper. Place the blotting paper on top of 
the seed bed and slowly apply the water, 
allowing it to soak through the paper. The 
drip is thus avoided. 
Cover the box with a loose-fitting pane of 
glass to keep a more humid atmosphere thus 
reducing evaporation from the soil. Every- 
Sow the seeds in drills made by a wooden marker 
one-quarter inch wide 
day remove the glass and wipe off any water 
of condensation which may be on it. Place 
the flat in a position where it will receive all 
the light possible, but shade it from the 
direct sun. If the window has a southern 
exposure cover the seed flats with paper 
during the sunny hours. 
THE DETAIL OF ‘‘PRICKING OUT’’ 
As soon as the seedlings have made their 
first two real leaves it 1s time to ‘‘ prick out” 
into other flats, prepared similiarly to the 
seed flat. 
Pricking out is the first transplanting of 
the seedlings, and needs to be done tenderly. 
Do not try to take each single seedling from 
the seedbed. Take out a portion of soil 
which has a number of seedlings in it, lay it 
on its side and gently separate the soil. 
The dibble is a very useful tool for 
this purpose. It is made from a small piece 
of wood one-fourth or. three-eighths of an 
inch square and about four inches long. 
Cover the seed with a thin layer of fine soil and 
firm with a smooth board 
