n has become settled, the
plantlets may be removed to permanent quarters.

If the seed be sown out of doors, it is a good practice to sow a few
radish seeds in the same row with the herb seeds, particularly if these
latter take a long time to germinate or are very small, as marjoram,
savory and thyme. The variety of radish chosen should be a turnip-rooted
sort of exceedingly rapid growth, and with few and small leaves. The
radishes serve to mark the rows and thus enable cultivation to commence
much earlier than if the herbs were sown alone. They should be pulled
early--the earlier the better after the herb plantlets appear. Never
should the radishes be allowed to crowd the herbs.

By the narration of a little incident, I may illustrate the necessity of
sowing these radish seeds thinly. Having explained to some juvenile
gardeners that the radish seeds should be dropped so far apart among the
other seeds that they would look lonesome in the bottoms of the
rows--not more than six seeds to the foot--and having illustrated my
meaning by sowing a row myself, I let each one take his turn at sowing.
While I watched them all went well. But, alas, for precept and example!
To judge by the general result after the plants were up, the seedsman
might justifiably have guaranteed the seed to germinate about 500 per
cent, because each boy declared that _he_ sowed _his_ rows thinly.
Nevertheless, there was a stand of radishes that would have gladdened
the heart of a lawn maker! The rows looked like regiments drawn up in
close order and not, as was desired, merely lines of scattered
skirmishers. In many places there were more than 100 to the foot!
Fortunately the variety was a quick-maturing kind and the crop, for such
it became, was harvested before any damage was done the slow-appearing
seedlings, whose positions the radishes were intended to indicate.

CUTTINGS

[Illustration: Glass-Covered Propagating Box]

No herbs are so easy to propagate by means of cuttings as spearmint,
peppermint, and their relatives which have underground stems. Every
joint of these stems will produce a new plant if placed in somewhat
moist soil. Often, however, this ability is a disadvantage, because the
plants are prone to spread and become a nuisance unless watched. Hence
such plants should be placed where they will not have their roots cut by
tools used close to them. When they seem to be extending, their borders
should be trimmed with a sharp spade