The crowding of roots in the soil and of foliage in the air, resulting in the loss of light to the leaves, involves deficiency of all the materials referred to above-minerals, organic materials, gases, and water-and no better illustration of the intense struggle for existence among these apparently passive and motionless beings, plants, can be given than an over-crowded seedbed or plantation.
"Disease in Plants"
H. Marshall Ward
On getting the best seedbed possible, sowed wheat.
"The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825"
Gordon Sellar
The usual practice is to keep the seedlings one year in the seedbed and two years in the nursery rows before they are set out.
"The School Book of Forestry"
Charles Lathrop Pack