February, 1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
11 7 
this, get a pick, break up a few 
chunks of garden soil, and half a 
bagful of the semi-frozen rotted 
leaves and twigs which you can 
easily get in some hollow in the 
woods, and place them near the 
furnace to thaw out, and partly 
dry out. Old soil and manure 
taken from a last year’s hotbed 
will answer the purpose finely. 
Flats are the most convenient 
things to handle vegetable seed¬ 
lings in. Seed pans are all right 
for such fine seed as many flowers 
have, but a common, rough-fin¬ 
ished cracker-box flat will give you better results with your veg¬ 
etable seeds. Get a couple of empty boxes, with their covers, 
from your grocer, mark them off into two-inch sections, take out 
the nails and clamps that come on the marks, and saw them up. 
When putting on the bottoms, leave cracks to facilitate perfect 
drainage. 
In the bottom of the flat place a layer of some rough material 
to serve as water drain, moisture-reservoir, and to save your sup¬ 
ply of prepared soil. In the photograph, pieces of broken pots, 
covered with sphagnum moss are shown, but any similar rough- 
age will do as well. Cover this with the prepared soil, packing 
firmly down along sides and in the corners to within about a 
quarter of an inch 
of the top of the 
flat, press the sur¬ 
face smooth with a 
piece of board, 
mark off rows 
about two inches 
apart with a small 
pointed stick, and 
all is ready. 
Right here is 
where the beginner 
usually makes the 
mistake of planting 
enough cabbage or 
lettuce t o serve 
him for about five 
years—if the plants 
would keep. In an 
ordinary cracker-box flat (about 13 by 19) there will be room for 
eight or nine rows. Each row should give from thirty-five to a 
hundred seedlings. Suppose we call it fifty for an average. 
Then the following planting of early vegetables would be about 
right for a medium-sized garden, and the employment of similar 
schemes have resulted well for the vegetable grower. 
Do not crowd the flats with too many seedlings and look out 
for “damping off” 
flat might be laid out as follows. 
(These will probably not average 
as many plants to the row as the 
others). 
(Chalks Early Jewel....') 
_ J V2 row I 
Tomatoes ) Dwarf Giant.^ row f 2 rows 
[.Matchless . i row J 
Egg-Plant (Black Beauty) . i row 
f Neapolitan Early.. y 2 , row ] 
Pepper t Ruby King. y 2 row > i )4 rows 
I Chinese Giant.rowj 
Okra (Perfected Perkins) .. Yi row 
(Big Boston. i row) 
Lettuce j Brittle Ice or New r 2 rows 
f York . i row J 
Celery (Winter Queen) .2 rows 
At the left are seedlings just ready for transplanting; in the center one with the proper mass of 
rootlets and adhering soil; at the right seedlings too lanky—set them deep when transplanted 
First Planting (February 1st to March 1st). 
Jersey Wakefield ...54 row") 
Cabbage - All-head Early.row t 2 rows 
. [Succession . 1 rowj 
Cauliflower (Snowball) .t row 
(Grand Rapids. 1 row ) 
Lettuce \ Wayahead . 1 row J 2 rows 
Beets (Early Model) .2 rows 
n • „ (Prizetaker. 1 row) 
Unions [Ailsa Craig. 1 row f 2 rows 
For celery and parsley, both of 
which take a very long time to 
come up, a seed pan, or cigar box, 
or end of a flat which could be 
left undisturbed when the other 
plants were taken out, might do. 
For a second planting, mostly 
of the warm-blooded vegetables, a 
r 
Place the seedlings to be transplanted on a board; make holes 
for them with the fingers and press them firmly into place 
These varieties mentioned above 
are all good sorts, and selected, 
where more than one of a kind is 
suggested, with the idea of furnishing a succession. You may 
know others which you like better. 
The seed should be scattered evenly but thinly—eight or ten to 
the inch—in the miniature drill, which should be rather broad and 
very shallow. Press them in firmly, carefully tag each row, and 
then cover about a quarter of an inch deep, pressing the whole 
surface down lightly. 
Right here comes one of the most important kinks of the plant¬ 
starting art. Instead of giving the flat a dousing with the water¬ 
ing-can, as you probably have been in the habit of do¬ 
ing, under the mistaken idea that it would 
be good for the 
plants, set the whole 
flat in the sink or 
bathtub and let in 
a little water, just 
enough to come a 
third of the way 
up the sides. Here 
let it soak until the 
moisture coming 
up through from 
the bottom shows 
on the surface of 
the soil, turning 
the latter dark in 
color. Then let it 
drain until it stops 
dripping. In this 
way you will have 
saturated the soil 
in the most thorough manner, without washing out or packing the 
surface soil in the slightest. 
To secure quick germination, seeds should be given “bottom 
heat.” As it does not make any difference how dark a place they are 
in until they sprout, the flat may be placed over a radiator, on the 
back of the kitchen range or on the hot-air or hot-water pipes. Any 
surface upon which you can bear 
, to rest your hand will not be too 
hot, as the heat will not be readily 
conducted to the surface of the 
soil. Cover the box with a loose- 
fitting pane of glass, to protect 
from mice and to conserve the 
moisture and keep the surface of 
the soil from getting hard. 
In a few days the cabbage and 
lettuce seed will be up, followed 
soon by the others. The moment 
they break ground they will have 
to be supplied with ail the light 
(Continued on page 130) 
