Starting Plants Indoors— By w. Palmer 



Vir- 



5 ginia 



DURING WINTER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE WARMTH OF THE ORDINARY LIVING ROOMS TO 

 START UP SEEDS AND CUTTING OF PLANTS TO BE SET OUTDOORS IN SPRING AND SUMMER 



ANY TIME after the New Year has turned 

 and before the winter goes there is 

 abundance of opportunity to start seeds of 

 the more tender plants for late spring or 

 early summer flowers. 



I have heard persons say: "You have 

 only to break off a piece of plant, stick it 

 in the soil, and it is sure to grow; I might 

 stick in fifty slips, and every one of them 

 would die." The truth is, that a cutting 

 does not care who cuts it from the parent 

 plant, if it is cut the right way; nor who 

 inserts it in the earth if the earth is the 

 proper sort and the insertion is made cor- 

 rectly. And good seeds are just as obliging 

 and obedient. 



The very best way to obtain a stock of 

 many desirable flowering plants is to grow 

 them from seed; while some plants repro- 

 duce themselves almost exactly from the 

 seed others will give various different colors 

 or forms from the same seed pod so that it 

 is not safe to rely on seed reproduction at all. 

 This is true of the more highly bred flowers 

 which are grown in many varieties, except 

 annuals. Nearly all the best summer- 

 blooming flowers that are annuals can be 

 depended upon, but chrysanthemums and 

 geraniums, cannas, and carnations seldom 

 pay for the trouble when grown from seed. 

 The florist will throw away a thousand 

 plants for one that he gets worth saving; 

 therefore, the amateur is wisest who keeps 

 to well established kinds that do not vary in 

 raising from seed. 



Before sowing, two things are necessary 

 to do to the soil in which the seed is sown. 

 I have two sieves, one a common sifter for 

 coal ashes, the other made from the fine 

 netting used in window screens. I take 

 ordinary garden soil, sift it all through the 

 ash sifter, and then bake it well to kill all 

 bacteria; then I get a soap box, saw it up 

 in four-inch sections, nail a bottom on each, 

 put in about an inch of broken crockery 

 or small coal for drainage, then two inches 

 of the sifted earth, pressing it down level 

 with a smooth board. On top of that I 

 sift one-half inch of earth through the fine 

 sieve. I do not let the bottom come quite 

 close to the sides of my box, so that when I 

 water it will drain right through. 



This box will do for pansies, asters, del- 

 phiniums, and most 

 fairly large seeds. 

 Sprinkle them on top 

 of the fine soil, sift 

 through the fine sieve 

 about enough earth 

 to cover them, press 

 down with a board 

 and then stand the 

 box in a large pan 

 filled with sufficient 

 water to reach half 

 way up the side of 



the seed box. Let it stand until you see 

 the top has become wet, then put on one 

 side, covering with glass or paper, and see 

 that the soil never becomes dry, nor sod- 

 den with water. When the seed leaves 

 have started, remove the covering, but keep 

 the box in a warm, shady place until the 

 seedlings are strong enough to transplant. 



But there are some very small, delicate 

 seeds of very beautiful flowers that so far 

 have given everybody trouble to grow, 

 florists included — gloxinias, begonias, pri- 

 mulas, etc. : — and most novices fail with 

 them every time. I have made a discovery 

 of my own which makes the culture of these 

 charming greenhouse plants comparatively 

 easy. I used an old tin milk-pan, gallon 

 size, and a 4-inch flower pot. The pot I put 

 in the middle of the pan and nearly fill it 

 with moist sphagnum moss; then I put 



Start cuttings in a bed of moist sand, and in a 

 warm place 



moss in the pan around the pot about one 

 inch thick, carefully packed level — it must 

 be moist to do this properly — and on top 

 of the moss one-half inch of fine soil. Then 

 I sprinkle my fine seeds on the earth, press 

 down gently, and never let one drop of water 

 directly touch my seeds. Always water 

 through the moss into the flower pot; it 

 soaks all through the moss in pot and pan, 

 the earth absorbs enough for germination, 

 and the young plants will not damp off or 

 rot at the place where earth and air meet. 



The temperature is all-important in start- 

 ing seeds in the house. The place •■ — green- 



Much time is gained by starting seeds indoors during late -winter. Select a light place with moderate warmth 



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house, living room or kitchen — matters 

 little. If you cannot give your seed box a 

 temperature never lower than 60 degrees, 

 never higher than 80 degrees, don't sow the 

 seed, but wait a week or so until you can 

 get the proper conditions. 



After your young plants are a month old 

 they should be transplanted into flats, just 

 like the seed boxes. I take a fork, insert 

 it in the earth, away from my little plant, 

 and gently lift the earth to loosen it; then 

 with a toothpick lift the seedling and change 

 it to the flat for stronger growth — about 

 one inch apart every way, for small, slow 

 growing ones like primulas and cyclamen, 

 an inch and a half for stronger ones, as 

 asters. When they show signs of recovery 

 from the shift, put them in a light place and 

 watch them grow. 



Plants like geraniums and fuchsias, some 

 begonias, and roses, are better grown from 

 cuttings from old plants. But for nearly 

 every plant a different way is used, and the 

 plan that is successful in one month may fail 

 in another, and what the florist can do in 

 the greenhouse the amateur cannot in a room. 

 The principle is this: that a very tender 

 growth near the end of the shoot is too full of 

 sap to root easily. It will very likely rot. 

 Too near the main stem of the plant the 

 tissue is too hard to send out the rootlets. 

 So what corresponds to the term "half ripe 

 wood," is generally the best. But for 

 fuchsias, pelargonium, and some others, 

 the best way is to cut back the plant after 

 flowering time, let it rest, nearly dry, in a 

 cool, shady place for three months, then 

 water and start into growth. Soon there 

 will be plenty of young shoots, about three 

 inches long; carefully cut them off, quite 

 close to the stem, and then root. 



The best plan for the amateur, is to get 

 a six-inch flower pot and half fill it with 

 pieces of charcoal as big as a bean; on top 

 lay some moss, then fill up with clean sand, 

 having some charcoal dust mixed with it. 

 Insert your cuttings around the edge of the 

 pot, close together; keep moist and keep 

 warm. Most things will root that way, 

 and if you have kept over winter one or 

 two good coleus, or geraniums, you can 

 soon get a quantity for a summer garden 

 display. The one indispensable fact to 

 remember is that 

 seeds, cuttings, plants 

 in pots or ground, 

 need the earth made 

 firm about them to 

 encourage growth; 

 not to crowd the 

 seeds, nor make the 

 earth hard as a rock, 

 but to prevent drying 

 out, and secure a 

 complete covering 

 for every rootlet. 



