62 
House & Garden 
Grow Your Own Vegetables 
There is greater need this year 
than ever to help increase the food 
supply. 
Plant and cultivate a garden, 
and thus do your share. You’ll cut 
down living expenses, too. 
You save time, labor, money, 
and get bigger and better crops by 
using 
Planet Jr. 
Garden Implements 
No. 25 Planet Jr Combined Hill and Drill Seeder, 
Double and Single Wheel Hoe, Cultivator and Plow 
sows all garden seeds from smallest up to peas and 
beans, in hills or in drills, rolls down and marks next 
row at one passage, and enables you to cultivate up 
to two acres a day all through the season. A double 
and single wheel hoe in one. Straddles crops till 20 
inches high, then works between them. Steel frame 
and 14 inch steel wheels. A splendid combination for 
the family garden, onion grower, or large gardener. 
No. 17 Planet Jr is the highest type of single-wheel 
hoe made. It is a hand machine whose light, durable 
construction enables a man, woman or boy to do the 
cultivation in a garden in the easiest, quickest and 
best way. We make 24 styles—various prices. 
New 72-page Catalog, free ! 
Illustrates Planet Jrs in action and describes over 
55 tools, including Seeders, Wheel Hoes, Horse Hoes, 
Harrows, Orchard, Beet and Pivot-wheel Riding 
Cultivators. Write for it today! 
S L ALLEN & CO Box 1110K Philadelphia 
Giving the Garden a Running Start 
(Continued from page 60) 
especially around the edges and at the 
corners. Where only a few plants are 
to be started, “seed-pans,” which re¬ 
semble sawed-off or shallow flower pots, 
may be used for sowing the seed, as 
they take up much less room than the 
flats. In either case, the soil after be¬ 
ing put in, should be watered very thor¬ 
oughly, so that it is moistened through 
to the bottom, absorbing all the water 
it will take up without getting soggy. 
The idea of this is to have, if possible, 
enough water to carry the seeds until 
after they have germinated without hav¬ 
ing to water again. If they can then 
be given another thorough watering on 
some bright morning just as they are 
coming through, that will carry them 
well on their way to a strong start 
without the troubles and dangers re¬ 
sulting from frequently wetting the sur¬ 
face of the seed-bed. 
After watering, the soil should be left 
until dry enough to mark off very shal¬ 
low rows on the surface, about 2" apart. 
A small blunt stick, such as a dull lead 
pencil or an orange stick, will be handy 
for this purpose. Seeds such as cab¬ 
bage and lettuce should be covered only 
about Yi" deep; beets may go a little 
deeper; fine flower seeds should be 
gently pressed down into the soil sur¬ 
face, and barely dusted over with soil, 
enough to cover them from sight. Of 
course, every kind and variety of seed 
planted should be carefully labeled, as 
planted, and marked with the date and 
the source of seed. 
For several days after planting quite 
a high temperature may be advantage¬ 
ously given. Fifty to sixty degrees at 
night will be none too much. If there 
are pipes under the bench, or the flats 
can be placed directly over heating pipes 
so as to get “bottom heat,” a prompt, 
strong germination will be greatly 
helped. The high temperature, of 
course, tends to dry the soil out quickly. 
This can be counteracted to a great 
extent by placing pieces of glass over the 
flats or seed-pans. These, while admit¬ 
ting the light, keep a mulch of moist air 
over the surface and retard evaporation. 
Temperature and Sunlight 
Once the little seedlings have come 
through, they will want a temperature 
of 45° to 55° at night. Peppers, egg¬ 
plants and tomatoes, besides salvias and 
other tender flowers, should have at 
least the higher of these figures to grow 
rapidly, but as they usually are not 
planted until later this can easily be 
given. But a good temperature alone is 
not sufficient to keep them growing 
properly. They must grow not only fast, 
but strong, to make good plants. 
In addition to a suitable temperature, 
they must have abundant sunlight. And, 
if started in the greenhouse, the nearer 
they can be kept to the glass the better. 
This is one reason why flats are an 
advantage; they can be started on the 
heating pipes, and then moved where- 
ever conditions are most suitable. They 
must also have plenty of fresh air. 
Every morning, unless there is a severe 
storm, the sash or the ventilators should 
be opened enough to -change the air, but 
any direct draft on the plants should be 
avoided. The temperature should be 
watched, and not allowed to run above 
70° or 80° for any length of time. 
Watering should be done quite regularly, 
with a fine spray, so as not to knock 
over the little seedlings; and it should 
be done early on bright mornings, so 
that the surface will remain wet as short 
a time as possible. 
Transplanting 
Transplanting is the next step: the 
flats or beds are prepared as before, 
except that fine rotted manure should 
be substituted for the drainage material, 
or a little bone flour added to the soil. 
The sooner transplanting can be at¬ 
tended to after the second true leaf 
appears, the better, as the plants at 
once begin to make a stocky growth, and 
the danger of stem-rot or “damping off” 
is lessened. The little seedlings should 
be set 2" to 3" apart each way. The 
forefinger, or a small stick about the 
same size, is used to make the holes, 
and the seedlings are inserted, being 
covered well up the stem so they will 
not flop over. A small trowel, a flat, 
sharpened stick or an old knife should 
be used to get the seedlings out of the 
flat or bed, so as to disturb the roots as 
little as possible. The slightest pull will 
break off the fine root hairs and delay 
new growth after transplanting. Only 
the strongest seedlings should be saved. 
After transplanting, each flat or sec¬ 
tion of the bed should be given a thor¬ 
ough watering and then kept for a week 
or so under the same conditions as be¬ 
fore transplanting, except that during 
the middle of the day they should be 
protected from hot sun until the seed¬ 
lings have taken root. As the growth 
proceeds, water must be given as often 
as needed, which will be with growing 
frequency. As soon as strongly estab¬ 
lished they can be moved to cooler 
quarters, or more air given. If they 
are growing properly they will show it 
in their healthy color and growth. 
The last step is to “harden off’ before 
finally transplanting to the garden. 
This is done by giving more and more 
air, and finally removing the sash alto¬ 
gether. The leaves will take on a darker 
color, or even turn purplish, and the 
plants may not look as luxuriant as 
they did before; but they will receive 
much less of a check when set out. 
The more tender things, such as lima 
beans, corn and melons, which I men¬ 
tioned at the beginning of this article, 
are not started until three or four weeks 
before it will be safe to put them out. 
They are not transplanted, but are sown 
directly in paper pots—which can be 
obtained at a very low cost—in rich 
compost, a few seeds to a pot. When 
well up, they are thinned to the two 
or three best plants, and gradually hard¬ 
ened off, so as to be ready to set out 
as soon as danger from frost is passed 
—a few days later than it would be safe 
to plant tire seed outdoors. 
