Raising Annuals in Greenhouse or Frame 
Sowing the seeds thinly. — Despite the fact 
that the injunction to “ sow thinly ” has been 
reiterated a thousand-and-one times, the opposite 
extreme is still a commonplace with gardener 
and amateur alike. Seeds sown after the manner 
of mustard and cress are hampered from the 
very moment they appear, and, with timely 
thinning neglected, foredoomed to partial or 
complete failure. The thick sowing of seeds 
of all descriptions is in some measure due to 
their cheapness, plus not a little ignorance of 
the early development of the seedling. These 
things are opposed to success, and a sturdy plant 
is impossible. Hence once again is it necessary 
to urge the hackneyed phrase, “ Sow thinly.” 
The smallest seeds produce often enough large 
cotyledons (seed leaves), the still larger often 
laterally disposed rough leaves following im- 
mediately, hence the difficulty of laying down 
any hard-and-fast rule from the seeds alone. 
On the diameter of a shilling a hundred or five 
times that number of seeds may find room in 
a single layer, while to sow them thinly a io-inch 
square seed -pan may be none too large. In 
sowing the smaller seeds a peppering of clean 
silver sand first given to the sowing area will 
assist the operator to a more uniform — also thin 
— distribution of the seeds. On darker soils it is 
not possible to see where the seed falls. 
Thinning and pricking off. — These bear some 
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