Specific Directions for Starting 
Seeds Early 
For Growing Seeds Preparatory to Transplanting to the Open Ground 
Get a box about 18 by 18 inches and 3 
to 4 inches in depth. 
Fill with a loose sandy soil mixed with 
a fair amount of leaf mold or light loam 
so that it will not bake. You should pro- 
vide for drainage by boring holes in the 
bottom of the box. 
If perchance the plants are left in the 
box a little long the roots may penetrate 
through the opening to the bottom of the 
box and into the ground. The box should 
occasionally be moved to prevent this. 
The box should have sufficient moisture 
and be kept in a warm condition. 
When the little plants have produced 
three or four leaves they should be gone 
over carefully and thinned out; leave the 
individual plants which are supposed to 
be transplanted an inch or two apart. 
If intended to be planted on a large 
scale, the plants should be taken out of 
the original planting box and reset in simi- 
lar boxes for a time to harden or toughen 
them preparatory to planting them in the 
open ground. 
Care should be exercised not to keep 
the box of plants too wet — the right de- 
gree of moisture is very important; this 
is best ascertained by watching the box, 
to see that water does not stand on the 
top. 
The box in which the seeds have been 
planted should be kept in a warm place, 
sunny preferred, but not in the direct 
rays of the sun. A certain amount of 
shade is desirable. 
Cold Frame 
If a hothouse or sheltered sunny spot 
is not convenient the cold frame should 
then be constructed. Boards an inch in 
thickness and twelve inches wide about 
three or four feet long (depending on 
how extensive the planting may be) 
should be nailed together so as to form 
a four-sided enclosure without top or 
bottom. One side should be three or four 
inches lower than the opposite side so as 
to form a slant. A glass sash large 
enough to cover the top opening should 
be provided and so arranged as to be re- 
movable. This to permit access to plants. 
If glass is not convenient a sheet of 
unbleached cotton cloth should be 
stretched across the top opening, one side 
being arranged so as to permit the lifting 
back of the covering. 
Put cold frame thus constructed in as 
sheltered and sunny a location as possible. 
Place seed boxes therein and with an 
occasional airing of the plants in the 
warm rays of the sun and keeping cover- 
ing in place at night, very satisfactory 
and quick results should be attained. 
