Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-03-19
SEED IN BOXES
 MEANS blG GAIN IN HOME GARDENS
Delicate Vegetable Plants
 Can Be Started Indoors With Good Results.

Home gardeners who do not own a hotbed and who cannot readily buy young plants can get much earlier crops of tomatoes, cabbage, caull- flower, peppers, eggplant and lettuce if they will start the seed for thelr early gardens in seed boxes in the house Early potatoes sometimes are forced in the same way Seeds so planted germinate and are ready TOT transplanting by the time it is safe to SOW the same kind of seed in the open ground. When danger of frost l is over and the soil is dry enough to work. therefore, the home gardener starts his early garden with seedlings we'll above the surface. Transplant
 ing, if properly done. instead of huft- ing. seems to help such plants de- velop a strong root system. Garden enthusiasts should get good deal Of
 nleasure from this kind of preliminary indoor gardening. They also can use boxes to hasten the blooming period
 of many sorts of flowers which stand l transplanting .., Any sort of wooden box filled with good soil answers the purpose. The following directions for making seed
 boxes and handling the plants have
 been prepared by the bureau of plant
 industry and the states, relations. seIfsX;E seIfsXy;
 ice,a United States department of agrl- culture, for the guidance of the can ming and gardening clubs ln the North and West.
 Making Seed Box. Seeds of early tomatoes and cab bage, as we'll as chauliflower and
 pepper. should be planted in seed
 box in the house at once. The seed
 box should be 3 to inches deep, lz
 to IA inches wide and 20 to "A 1nches
 long. A layer of about one inch o1 gravel or cinders should be placed 1T , the bottom of the box, then it shoulc be filled nearly full of rich garder soil, or soil enriched with decayee leaves or manure. The rich soil be-
 meath the family wood pile or around decaying logs is splendid for this pur 7 pose. The soil should be pressed dowl a firmly with a small piece of board ant , rows made one-fourth to one-half incl , deep and two inches apart crosswls'
 of the box. The seed should be dis
 tributed 8 or 10 to the inch Tn thu l rows and be covered. The soil should be watered and the box set in a warn } place in the light, in the sunshine b:
 a window being best. Water enougl n must be given from time to time t c cause the seeds to germlnate am l. grow thriftily but not enough to lea l. through the box. If a piece of glas E is used to cover the boY, it VII hol S the moisture in the soil and,Yhasten tn
 examination of the seeds.
 l. Take Out Surplus Plants.
 l. When the plants are from an inc g to an inch and half high they shoul e be thinned to one or two inches apa1 $ in the row so as to give them spac e enough to make a strong stock It growth. If it is desired to keep tn a plants which are thinned out. the T. may he set two inches apart each wa s in other boxes prepared as mentione Il for the seed box. When the weathe al becomes mild, the box of plants shoul l. be set out of doors part of the time m that the plants will harden off, l m preparation for transplanting to tn It garden later. A good watering shoul
 be given just before the plants al 'le le taken out of the box for transplantin a+ .+ so that large ball of earth will stic " to the roots of each one.