Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-14
SEVERAL INQUIRIES FULLY ANSWERED

the much advertised paper pots and
 know nothing about their practical l merits or demerits.
 Second inquiry: wouldn't old jelly l glasses make good pots?"
 Not for such plants as tomatoes, | peppers, and the like. Your pot must l
 have drainage at the bottom. Young 1
 plants need water enough, but will l
 not thrive in mud. No matter how l careful you may be you are almost l sure, sometime or other, to give the I little pot more water than it's two or l
 three spoonfuls of earth can take up. l This surplus water will settle to the 1 bottom, where the roots are, and turn l that into mud. Whereupon your plants l will grow yellow and droop and prob l ably die. With drainage hole in the l bottom, this surplus water runs out of ! the pot where it may, perhaps, soil the ]! window seat but won't drown the seeding. l It is to make an absorbent for this ! waste water that I use shallow wooden 1 trays, each as big as the window seat l or shelf will accommodate, with an i inch or so of dirt over their bottoms i The little pots are set in this dirt; the waste water which escapes through the i bottom holes is absorbed by it, and l ugly stains are obviated If drainage is necessary, why put 1 broken shards or small stones over the holes in the pots before filling them? ] Fer two reasons: one to prevent too l free drainage, and one to give some 1 thing firm to punch against with match 1 or pencil end when you want to get ] the earth of the small pot out in a solid ball for re- transplanting into a i bigger pot. No doubt skilful artists , can get them out by simply jarring i them free. But in untrained hands this ! process too frequently results in shak- ing the dirt so loose that it falls away l from the roots, leaving them quite bare l to undergo the struggle for new start l Third inquiry; Why press the dirt about the roots with the fingers?" Simply to bring it into close contact 1 with the tiny feeding rooGets. These i roOuets nOurish the plant by that
 which they extract from the dirt l " hen they I|st start 70 grow they hunt up the dirt particles, twine | around them. worm through them and so get at their desired sustenauces Hut i in tranepl2ntins they are -uJely torn l free a~ti to resume growth, must have i the new dirt brought so close to .hem ; that they can promptly begin sucking at t This is effected after Il crude
 farhion, by conpacting the new dirt about them. u is not absolutely necessary that this be done with the l finger. If the dirt is sifted in loosely and then is drerched with water, the descending nojature will generally wash the bose Girt down against the roo+iats Eut the pots will then need l additional dirt to i'll them up in n:@ce of that which has been washed down. Il Is naoc7 vCl k for me to fU this thln to gently urc:is the dirt ac3llu l t:t. plant with tte erd of the finger, whc1 CT o'lgh has beeH slfted in to cover the GoOtIets.
 ! Fourth inoriry: What is tho test
 tfe seed tray without iniucIng the rC0.e?"
 That is exactly what would he lia- Flt to h7pnen -noreover. have seven or eight acres in gardens On those acras I have some twenty or more T7rHi7g sots. They run from dry, ileachE gravel through tu stick 1oam UEderlaid hv Eard~pan. : can't raise my sort Of tOmatoes o1; much Of this, [ fj1 the ratcc5s where experience has -hoWn me th'.v will grow profitably ave .0r-"G just two strs-irs which do l7Hqnife~ P letter than others. But this fact i. e. that these TWO strains ! afe most suitable to my soil and sea- SOB, is no proof that tnrv would be
 h@et or even good for your soil and ! seaeon.
 don't mind telling yen, in strict confidence, that the two varieties
 bold to as main crop stHndbys arc II ''h"Iks' Jewel and June Fink. Both sorts are with me. carrie" than even : tLe Earli ra; both are fair fruiters; tIih produce tomatoes of e0od market
 size: both "fow smooth a.,d meaty; }0fh are reasonably fire from black
 srots.
 But-don't you dare go and say that
 I recommend these varieties for you! For more than twenty years I have , regularly tried a few plants Of other kinds each spring, to see if any one would do better None have. although ! and this is mighty illuminating
 most of them have been sorts which l have done finely in the gardens of i'm
 mediate neighbors.
 : My. advice is if you have a kind
 which does well that you stick to it,
 If you haven't such kind, try as
 many as you find 1t in your heart to
 rutter with, till your own gardenS tell
 you which to select. They are the
 court to which YOU must finally ap- } I cal, anyway. You might as well do it 2 aL the start-of.
 THE FARMER.