There are many choice seeds, especially in the greenhouse varieties, that cannot be handled successfully in the hotbed—Begonias, Gloxinias, Cinerarias, and Primulas among them. All seeds too fine to be covered do better with house treatment. For starting these the shallow boxes or flats, as they are called, are used. Shallow cigar-boxes, or the larger ones sawed in two and the lid nailed on for the extra bottom, make convenient sizes for the finest seeds. They may be used from year to year if care is taken to store them away, at the end of the season, where they will keep dry and ready for use.

Holes for drainage should be bored in the bottom and covered with bits of glass or broken crockery. Fill with finely sifted leaf-mould to within an inch of the top and shake the earth smooth and even. A smooth piece of board, three inches wide and as long as the inside width of the flat, with a handle that can be easily grasped, is indispensable for pressing down the soil, both before and after sowing the seeds. It should be stored away with the flats at the end of the season.

Sow very fine seed broadcast, scattering it thinly and evenly over the surface and pressing it into the soil with the wood. It will be better to sow only part of a packet at a time. This will usually give all the plants of a kind wanted at one time, and if success does not follow this first trial there will be seed left for another sowing. Label plainly with the name and date of sowing, and, when known, the date of germination. Give the soil a thorough watering by setting the flat in lukewarm water until the water rises to the surface, but not above it. When the entire surface is wet, remove the box, draining off all surplus water by tipping on one corner, until the water ceases to run off. Cover the flat with a glass and sheet of white paper and place in a warm place—a shelf above a coal-stove or radiator is an excellent location, as it affords the bottom heat so essential in starting tender seeds. Seeds while germinating need but little light, and a box on a shelf in a living-room may be so screened as not to be unsightly. A shelf under another, having a light valance, is an ideal place, as the heat strikes more on the bottom of the box, leaving the top cool. Coarse seeds may be sown in rows and lightly covered, or enough fine white sand to merely cover may be sifted over them. Large seed, like the Asparagus Sprengeri may be pressed into the soil to twice their depth. Or the soil may first be covered with a thin layer of fine white sand, and the seeds sown on this and covered according to need. Sand counteracts the troublesome tendency to damping off caused by the presence of a minute fungus in the form of a fine moss or thread-like filaments covering the ground. Since this is the result of too much moisture, the remedy is to remove the glass, allowing the surplus moisture to pass off and the dry air to strike the soil for a short time. Care must be taken that the dryness does not extend below the surface. Drops of water on the glass indicate too much humidity. The glass should be removed, wiped, and aired. Where the plants are not too close together a crochet-hook or hat-pin may be used to scrape the moss or filament from the earth. This slight disturbance of the soil often serves to destroy the fungus. If the soil threatens to become dry, water carefully with a rubber sprinkler. If the dryness begins in the bottom, water as before by setting the flat in a pan of water.

When the plants have their second leaves give more air and remove the paper; in a day or two set in a light, warm window, screening from the hot sun by placing a piece of white paper between the box and the window glass. Leave the glass partly off the flat to admit air, and when the plants have their first true leaves remove it entirely for a part of the time.

When large enough to handle, transplant the seedlings into other flats, setting them one or two inches apart according to their growth. When the leaves again touch prick them out in two-inch pots of leaf-mould, placing a piece of crockery over the drainage hole and filling with earth to within half an inch of the top. Plunge the pots into a box of sand in a sunny window until large enough to go out of doors. As soon as the roots fill the pots shift to a size larger, using compost of two parts fibrous loam, four parts leaf-mould, one part old, well-rotted manure, and one part sharp white sand, all thoroughly sifted together. This is called fine compost, while soils that have not been sifted are known as rough compost. To remove sticks, stones, or hard bits of root put through a sand or coal-ash screen. A piece of wire netting slightly gathered up in the hand makes a convenient screen for a small quantity and a box with a netting bottom for larger quantities of earth.

By the time the plants again need shifting it should be warm enough to bed out all those that are to grow in the open ground, while those intended for the house must be shifted from pot to pot as they outgrow their quarters and be given such special treatment as the individual plants may require, always aiming at as thrifty a growth as possible. Plants intended for winter blooming must have all their buds removed and their branches pinched back according to their summer development.

Weak liquid manure may be given once a week during summer. Keep the sand in the sand-box wet at all times, but do not over-water. Water thoroughly and then allow the earth to become nearly dry before watering again; this alternate moisture and dryness allows the wood to ripen and make a stockier growth and one that will stand frequent changes of temperature better than the tender growth induced by over-watering.