88 Home Vegetable Gardening 



broken off. They should come away almost intact, 

 as shown facing p. 86. A\^ater your seed-flats the 

 day previous to transplanting, so that the soil will be 

 in just the right condition, neither wet enough to 

 make the roots sticky nor dry enough to crumble 

 away. 



Take the little seedling by the stem between 

 thumb and forefinger, and with a small round 

 pointed stick or dibber, or with the forefinger of the 

 other hand, make a hole to receive the roots and 

 about half the length — more if the seedlings are 

 lanky — of the stem. As the seedling drops into 

 place, the tips of both thumbs and forefingers, by one 

 quick, firm movement, compress the earth firmly 

 both down on the roots and against the stem, so 

 that the plant sticks up firmly and may not be readily 

 pulled out. Of course there is a knack about it 

 which cannot be put into words — I could have 

 pricked off a hundred seedlings in the time I am 

 spending in trying to describe the operation, but a 

 little practice will make one reasonably efficient at it. 



In my own work this spring, I have applied the 

 "sub-irrigation" idea to this operation also. The 

 manure placed in the bottom of the boxes is thor- 

 oughly w^atered and an inch of soil put in and wa- 

 tered also, and the box then filled and the plants 

 pricked in. By preparing a number of flats at one 

 time, but little additional work is required, and the 



