334 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, 1906 
Starting Seeds in the House 
SEONG N PLANTING seeds of tender annuals in 
the house, shallow boxes, called flats, are re- 
quired. These should not be over three 
inches deep, and for tender greenhouse 
plants two inches is enough. ‘These may be 
of any convenient size, but should not be too 
wide to sit on the window sill, unless a shelf extends beneath 
the window sill on which they can rest. It is better, too, that 
they be small enough to accommodate but one kind of seed. 
For all fine seeds a soil composed of leaf mold and fine, 
sharp sand should be used. This should be sifted and pressed 
down evenly. The soil should be moist when used, not wet 
or dry. Fine seed, like the Rex begonias, primrose, calceo- 
larias and the like, should be merely sifted evenly over the 
surface of the soil and pressed down into the soil with a 
piece of smooth board. 
The flats before filling with earth should have a few 
small holes bored in the bottom and these covered with bits of 
glass to prevent the soil washing into the holes. 
After the fine seeds have been sown, the flats should be set 
in a pan of tepid water until they have absorbed sufficient 
moisture to look dark, but not wet on top. They should then 
be tilted on the edge and all surplus water drained off, the 
flat covered with glass and a sheet of white paper and set 
where they can have a regular heat, from beneath if possible. 
Coarser seeds should have a light covering of sifted sand 
pressed down over them, and still larger seeds should be 
sowed in drills an eighth of an inch deep and the displaced 
soil drawn back over them and pressed down. 
All flats should be plainly marked with the name of the 
seed, date of sowing and, where known, the length of time it 
takes the seed to germinate. Some seeds germinate in from 
three to five days, while others take as many weeks, and in 
some cases even months, during which time they must never 
be neglected or exposed to conditions that will tend to destroy 
them—as drying out, allowed to damp off, chilled or over- 
heated. Perfect evenness of temperature and moisture are 
the prime requisites in successful plant culture from seed. 
The question of moisture is easily regulated, as the glass 
over the flat acts as a barometer, and indicates by its con- 
dition the condition of the soil. If large drops of water 
gather on the under surface, the soil is much too wet, and 
the glass should be partially removed until the surplus mois- 
ture has passed off. If only a fine mist exists the soil is about 
right. Should, however, the soil appear dry on the surface 
alone, water should be given from the rose of a rubber 
sprinkler or from a whisk broom dipped in water and lightly 
shaken over the soil. Never pour water on the soil from 
anything, as that will wash the seed out of the soil and cause 
the soil to become hard and baked. Should, however, the 
dryness appear at the bottom of the box, as will be evidenced 
by the dryness about the cracks at the bottom, the flat should 
be set in a pan of lukewarm water, as in the beginning, until 
it has absorbed sufficient water. 
Sometimes the flats are attacked with what is known as 
damping off. This is caused by the growth of a minute 
fungus in the form of long green, moss-like threads cover- 
ing the surface. These usually appear after the plants are 
up, and are due to too much moisture and, perhaps, not suf- 
ficient air and heat. The remedy is light, air, and the re- 
moval of the fungus by lifting it gently from the soil with a 
hat pin, when the soil should be gently scratched to restore a 
healthy condition. 
As soon as the plants are up and out of the seed leaf they 
should be removed to a warm, sunny window and encouraged 
to make all the growth possible, for it is right here that the 
real trouble in raising tender plants from seed occurs; lack 
of heat, air and light may cause the ruin of a promising crop 
of plants in a very short time. 
Plants placed in a sunny window should have a sheet of 
thin white paper introduced between them and the window 
glass, or a screen of thin stuff, like lawn, cheesecloth or the 
like, to temper the glare of the sun. 
They should, if possible, have bottom heat, as it is more 
necessary that the soil and their roots be kept warm than 
the tops, which especially require light and air. 
As soon as the little seedlings become at all crowded in 
the flats, they should be pricked out into other flats of similar 
soil. In pricking out the plants which are very tender and 
brittle, much care must be used not to break off the roots. 
A forked stick, that is, a stick with a notch cut in the end, is 
convenient for this purpose. ‘The stick is pressed down into 
the soil beside the plant and lifted with the plant resting in 
the cleft of the stick, whence it may be transferred to the 
hole made for it in the fresh flat. 
When the leaves of the plants again touch they will be 
large enough to pot off in thumb pots. In making this 
change a trifle of old manure may be used. In these small 
pots no drainage material will be needed, simply a bit of 
charcoal over the drainage hole. Fill the pot within a half 
inch of the top, jarring the soil down, but not pressing; make 
a hole in the center for the plant and transfer it carefully 
to its new quarters; press the earth closely around its root, 
but do not make it hard. In transplanting these tender seed- 
lings the soil should never be wet enough to pack, as this 
would make it hard and impervious to the tender roots; add 
water after the plants are set. 
If the weather is warm enough, the little pots may now go 
into the sand box, or if still too early they may be set in shal- 
low trays of sand in the window garden, or on the little sash 
shelf, which is the ideal place for them. When the plants 
have made some considerable growth and the pots filled with 
roots, they must be shifted into pots a size larger. 
To ascertain the condition of the roots, straddle the stem 
of the plant with the fingers of the left hand, tap the re- 
versed pot smartly on the edge of table or shelf, which will 
loosen the ball of earth, when it may be turned out on the 
hand. If the ball of earth is well covered with roots the 
plant is ready to shift; if, however, the earth shows but a 
few weak looking roots the plant should be returned to the 
pot for a few days or weeks. 
In transplanting the plant from one pot to a larger it is 
better to use but one size larger. The natural inclination of 
the roots is toward the outside of the ball of earth, and the 
sooner and more easily this is made possible for the plant the 
greater will be the growth; hence the desirableness of the 
small pot. The larger pot may have a trifle of drainage 
material—a little broken charcoal covered with a little sphag- 
num moss to prevent the soil washing down and clogging the 
drainage. Into the pot thus prepared the soil should be 
placed and worked up around the sides, leaving a space about 
the size of the ball of earth it is to receive; pressing the 
smaller pot into the earth will shape and firm it. Place the 
ball of earth in this prepared space, firm the soil around it, 
water freely and the deed is done. Plants intended for open 
air bedding can go into the open ground by the time the 
plants again need shifting, while those intended for winter 
blooming should be shifted from size to size pots until, by 
the middle of September, they are in six or eight inch pots 
and are ready to bloom. 
