SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 279 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 

 GARDENING FOR THE AMATEUR. 



BY J. S. BROWNE, ALTON. 



3lr. President: In compliance with a request of your Secre- 

 tary to write a paper for this meeting of your Society, under the 

 head of "Gardening for the Amateur," I wish to call your atten- 

 tion to some things, that, though they are not new, are not as 

 generally known as they should be. 



To the amateur I will say, by all means make a hot bed ; the at- 

 tention it w r ill require is small when compared with the benefits 

 that will accrue from it. It is not necessary to dig a hole in the 

 ground, as many do, to put the manure in, but instead, make the 

 bed on the top of the ground three feet wider and longerthan the 

 frame, then bank up all around to the top of the frame 

 with manure. After the season is over the manure, with w 7 hat 

 soil may be left in the bed, should be turned over, and this com- 

 post used for the soil the next year ; any surplus makes a first class 

 fertilizer for anything. 



For early lettuce make a bed about the middle of January, or 

 first of February. As soon as the lettuce has grown about three 

 inches. high commence on one side, and with a knife cut as much 

 as may be required for a meal, taking care to cut above the crown 

 of the plant; continue this from day to day, and by the time the 

 bed has been cut over, that which w T as cut first will be ready to 

 cut again, and so on until the season is far enough advanced, 

 when these plants that you have been browsing off for the last 

 six weeks, may be taken up and planted out in the garden and 

 will have headed out long before seed planted outside. Those 

 who have never eaten this young lettuce do not know what good 

 lettuce is. This spent hot bed will make an excellent cold frame 

 for transplanting tomatoes, egg plant and anything that requires 

 transplanting before putting out into the open garden. Radishes 

 are far better when grown in a hot bed than w r hen grown in the 

 open ground. Beckert's Chartier will be found one of the best 

 for this purpose. 



If very early egg plants are desired plant seed about first of 

 February. They should be transplanted in the bed at least twice 

 giving them plenty of heat; it w T ill seldom be found necessary to 

 take the sash entirely off; plant into the open ground just before 

 or when strawberries are beginning to ripen — nothing is gained 

 by planting earlier. Thoroughly wet the soil before planting out 

 and as they make lots of fibrous roots, a sharp spade should be 

 pushed down between each plant when they can be taken out 

 with a large ball of earth. 



In order to get early cucumbers, nutmegs and watermelons, 

 take pieces of sod, cut about four inches square by three inches 



