How to grow seedlings By 
Seed Culture 
A galvanized iron or granite pan eight inches square and two or 
three inches deep will hold four 4-inch fern pots and eight kinds can 
be safely started, using half of the surface of each pot for each. 
Late spring and summer months are best for planting seeds, and if 
started when danger of cold nights is past, no heat is necessary, 
although it is best to maintain at least 70° for good germination. 



5 SS: Sa me 
ce ‘ 
Seedlings may be grown in clay 
pans, sprayed with water and 
covered with glass or newspaper. 
A deep box with an electric light bulb wired into the bottom, and 
containing a wire shelf above on which to stand the pans, will pro- 
vide sufficient bottom heat to grow seedlings indoors in all but the 
coldest periods of the year. There must be room for the shelves to 
clear the light bulb by a fair distance, and the tops of the pots when 
standing in the pans on the shelf must be about one inch below the 
top of the box, which is then covered with a sheet of glass. 
Be sure that the pans and pots are sterile; if not new, they should 
be boiled to assure sterility. In the bottom of each pot, put one inch 
of coarse washed pebbles or pieces of broken pots that have been 
boiled. Then fill the pots to within an inch of the top with a soil 
mixture of: sek 
5 parts sifted clean sand (not seashore). 
2 parts sifted leaf mold. 
2 parts fine top soil (loam). 
1 part finely powdered charcoal. 
