84 Home Vegetable Gardening 



for instance, to three to five 13 x 19 inch flats. If 

 but a few dozen, or a hundred, are wanted, sow in 



rows two or three inches apart, being careful to 

 label each correctly. Before sowing, the soil should 

 be pressed firmly into the corners of the flats and 

 leveled off perfectly smooth with a piece of board or 

 shingle. Press the seed evenly into the soil with a 

 flat piece of board, cover it lightly, one-eighth to 

 one-quarter inch, with sifted soil, press down barely 

 enough to make smooth, and water with a very fine 

 spray, or through burlap. 



For the next two days the flats can go on a pretty 

 hot surface, if one is available, such as hot water or 

 steam pipes, or top of a boiler, but if these are not 

 convenient, directly into the frame, where the tem- 

 perature should be kept as near as possible to that 

 indicated in the table on the next page. 



In from two to twelve days, according to tempera- 

 ture and variety, the little seedlings will begin to 

 appear. In case the soil has not been made quite 

 friable enough, they will sometimes "raise the roof" 

 instead of breaking through. If so, see that the 

 surface is broken up at once, with the fingers and a 

 careful watering, as otherwise many of the little 

 plants may become bent and lanky in a very short 

 time. 



From now on until they are ready to transplant, a 

 period of some three or four weeks, is the time when 



