The Iola register., 1885-05-08
s1ARTlNo PLANTS.
How Little Care Can Secure Early veg
etable Growth.

STARTING PLANTS.
How Little Care Can securs Early veg
etable Growth.
II have found it very good plan to
start few tomato, pepper and egg
plants in the house early each spring,
even though 1 start large numbers of
them in outdoor hot-beds afterwards.
When properly managed, those started
in the house make strong, stocky ''old"
plants by the time the soil is warm
enough to receive them, and then they
come to maturity rapidly, and are
blooming and fruiting before the hot
bed plants are over half-grown.
Plants started in the house frequently
prove unsatisfactory, and fruit no ear
lier than those started in the open
ground, because they are not properly
managed. A lot of seed is sown in q
box, the plants come up and grow
nicely until they begin to crowd each
other, then comes race for light and
air, and up they go until they resemble
| young snipes-all legs and no body.
When transplanted to she garden they
are gouged out of the box with knife,
about half of the few roots they possess
being cut off in the process, and then
the poor spiadling things are burned by
the sun and whipped by the wind for
two OF three weeks before their roots
become sufficiently established to feed
them and start them onward again.
This is the experience of thousands, for
whose benefit l will give my method of
starting plants in the house. Iprocure
| a lot of twO-inch pots, fill them with
fine rich soil, which has been baked in
the oven until every insect and egg in.
it is killed, then set them close together
in boxes two inches deep, packing the
interstices with moss to prevent the
earth from drying out too rapidly.
These boxes are large enough to con-
tain thirty pots each, and are provided
with handles, made from pieces of bar
rel hoop, for convenience in handling
The seeds-three for each pot--are
laid upon piece of cloth, covered with
moss and kept damp and warm until
they sprout; then they are planted in
the center of the pots. covered with an
eighth of an inch of soil, and the whole
covered with cloth which is kept damp
until the young plants appear. The
cloth is then removed, and after day
or so the plants are given the full bsne-
fit of sunlight.
When the second leaves open! all but
the strongest plant in each pot is re-
moved. They are given all the sun
and air possible. set out of doors on
fine days to harden, and when the gar
den is ready for them the pots are filled
with roots and the plants are like
study little oaks. When set out, the
bottom of the pot is given little pat,
and out comes the ball of earth con-
tanning all the roots undisturbed and
ready to seize upon the surrounding
soil and send the plant forward rapidly.
They do not lose rootlet nor even
wilt leaf, and thus six or eight days
are gained over the very best plants
taken from bed and set with the best
of care.
| start early cabbage in the same
manner, but as they will, when fairly
started. stand rougher treatment
and colder weather than tomato
or egg plants. they are placed along the
south side of building. and only set
inside during frosty and rainy weather.
They are not set in the garden how
ever. unit the weather has become
fairly settled and warm, as nothing is
gained by setting them out while the
ground is cold and wet.
Cabbage plants grown in this manner
are fully equal to those wintered over in
cold frames, and furnish good eatable
heads long before those taken from a
hot-bed. Two-inch pots cost about
ST. per hundred here. With ordinary
care they will last many years.
For growing a fen plants. in case pots
can not be procured at a reasonable
price. egg shells may be substituted.
About twO-thirds of the shell is used.
They are set upon layer of sand. and
the spaces around them filled with the
same material. A small hole is punched
through the bottom before they are
filed with soil They require much
more care in handling than pots, but
answer very good purpose in their alb
sence. The chief object of their use is
to confine the roots OF each plant to
given space, making them convenient
to set out without disturbance or loss,
and this they do full as well as pots.
When setting the plants, lif: them care
fully and break the shells up with gentle
pressure of the soil about them.-Cor.
n. Y. Examiner