conditions of the atmosphere that while watering seed beds once 
for today is sufficient, tomorrow it may be necessary to spray them 
four times. Too much water here, and not enough there, is sure to 
happen without care. 
Temperature higher than 75° is not fatal, but there must be © 
increased watchfulness to avoid drying out. Drying winds are a 
dangerous menace to the seed beds. Watch your moisture! 
Our own system in open ground follows: 
If your soil is not of the quality of first-class potting soil, pre- 
pare your bed for sowing as follows: 
1. Have your ground free of weeds and trash and pulverized 
to a depth of 8 inches or more. 
2. On level surface spread evenly a layer of pulverized manure 
or rich compost (we use and recommend compost). If you must 
use commercial fertilizers bone-meal is one of the best. When you 
use commercial fertilizers it is suggested that you use peat moss 
or charcoal with them. 
3. Overlay compost with 4%” of -your best soil. Then rake 
smooth and tamp or roll. 
4. Use the hose freely so that moisture will penetrate several 
inches. 
5. Now true up surface for planting. This operation is im- 
portant so that the seed will rest at an even depth after it is 
covered. 
6. Sow in drills or broadcast. We broadcast. Cover the seed 
1/16 to 3/16” with a sifted mixture of compost, 1 part and peat 
moss two parts. If when sown broadcast after moistening, a seed 
appears here and there on the surface the covering is O.K. 
7. Now cover with light burlap or thin sheeting, and weight 
down. Again use fine spray to moisten burlap and seed covering 
material. 
8. Allowing plenty of ventilation, keep your beds moist, quite 
moist, but not soaking wet, until plants come up. 
Never allow your beds to become dry. Any dryness after seeds 
sprout is absolutely fatal. We use 125 to 150 square feet to sow 
an ounce of seed. 
As soon as plants begin to come through freely we remove cov- 
ering permanently and sift tops of beds with 1/8 to 1/4 inch of 
peat moss. 
Pansy seed will germinate in 6 to 14 days, depending on the 
weather. Beds should be watched closely during this period so that 
when the plants appear above ground the covering may be re-: 
moved promptly. Failure to remove the covering at the right time 
will result in the plants-growing through the burlap and being 
uprooted when same is removed. 
We estimate 5,000 plants per ounce of our Mastodon pansy 
seed but our patrons often report much higher germinations, as 
much as 20,000 to the ounce. 
a Ge 
