1895. 



GARDENING. 



153 



^yv 



ROSE MRS PIERPONT MORGAN. 



to or faciiig the south; and the ground 

 should be well drained both at the bottom 

 of the pit and from the surface. The pit 

 for the manure should be two or two and 

 one-half feet deep below the ground, and 

 the frame or box above the surface level 

 should be one foot high in front and 

 eighteen inches or over at back, and 

 banked around with loam 01; coal ashes. 

 If the pit is lined to the bottom with 

 boards the manure won't cool so soon as 

 it would did it come against the earth 

 bank, and it would keep warm still longer 

 if the lining of the pit were double with 

 an open air space between the two board- 

 ings. To have a good job the top boxing 

 or frame should be of pine plank, and 

 bevelled on the edge just enough to let 

 the sashes lie perfectly flat on it. 



The heating material should be good 

 fresh horse stable manure, thoroughly 

 moistened and heated. Throw it up into 

 a heap to heat, then turn it over, shaking 

 it loose and mix it up well so that all is 

 equally moist and rough, and when it 

 gets quite hot make up your bed with it, 

 shaking it equally and evenly all over, 

 and tread it down firmly, especially 

 around the sides of the frames and under 

 the rafters, if the rafters are not movea- 

 ble. The end of this shaking out the 

 manure evenly and treading it all down 

 equally may not appear very evident at 

 first, but a month hence when the manure 

 begins to settle there will be puckers and 

 settlings in the bed where the manure was 

 not trodden down evenly. In making a 

 hotbed ne^er use manure that isn't quite 

 hot before it is made up; if it is cold or 

 cool, no matter how new it is, when filled 

 into the pit and packed the chances are it 

 will not heat up at all, or if it will, it will 

 do so only slightly. If you arc forced to 

 use the manure before it is quite hot shake 

 it looselv and evenlv and pack it down 

 only a 'little, fill the frame up full and 

 don't pack it at the top at all, then put 

 on the sashes and keep them close till the 

 sun helps to start a heat in the manure. 

 When you get up a good heat in this way 



tread all firmly and evenly and put on 

 the loam. After the heat is well up the 

 manure should stand about nineortwelve 

 inches from the top of the frame, accord- 

 ing to whether you are going to sow 

 seeds or plant lettuces, and there should 

 be a layer of four or five inches of loam 

 over the manure. 



After the loam is put on keep the sashes 

 closed till the sunshine above and the hot 

 manure beneath warm up the loam. 

 When the heat of the loam falls to 110° 

 you can sow seeds of lettuces, carrots, 

 radishes or spinach; but wait till it falls 

 to 100° before you plant out lettuces. 

 The heat when on the decline drops to 

 75° or 80° quite fast. 



In hotbeds there is apt to be a steam 

 for the first few days, let this escape by 

 ventilating a little. Indeed, when a bed 

 is new and the loam covering over the 

 manure is thin there is so much "steam" 

 that we tilt up every second sash at the 

 back about a fourth of an inch, even over 

 night, covering the aperture over with a 

 straw mat or some sedge. 



And we must protect the plants in the 

 beds from cold weather by covering over 

 the sashes with straw mats, sedge, shut- 

 ters or other means. In the case of cold 

 frames we can let them remain covered 

 up in stormy weather for da3'S or weeks 

 at a time without injury, but not so with 

 hotbeds, the close warm atmosphere and 

 steam would soon rot off the growing 

 plants were the frames shut up and cov- 

 ered over for a few davs at a time. 



THE VEOETflBLB OflRDBN. 



.\s regards cabbage, Brussels sprouts, 

 celery, carrots, beets, tumijjs, potatoes 

 and other vegetables stored in pits or cel- 

 lars over winter, they should be looked 

 over and cared for as recommended in 

 last issue. The same directions that were 

 then given about lettuces, spinach and 

 parsley in cold frames hold good still. In 

 fact we cannot yet change much from 

 what was then said about raising let- 

 tuces, onions, cabbage, tomatoes and 



cucumbers from seed, or forcing rhubarb 

 and asparagus. 



Make up your list of seeds for this 

 years garden and send for the seeds, 

 when they come unpack the box and 

 check off" the list, then mark "189.5" on 

 every package. This is to prevent them 

 getting mixed with any of last year's 

 -seeds that may have been left over. Some 

 seeds as melons and beets are good 

 enough the second year, but in many as 

 peas the vitality is greatly lessened or in 

 leeks destroyed. By having the year of 

 purchase marked on the bags every year 

 we know what we are sowing and the 

 chance of success we may have. Put the 

 bags into drawers or on shelves in a 

 closet or elsewhere where they can be 

 kept dry and secure from mice. 



Get your seeds from responsible seed 

 stores such as advertise in Gardening. 

 We ourselves do not buy our seeds at the 

 village grocery store; we send directly to 

 the seed store for them. Mail orders re- 

 ceive just as much attention as those sold 

 over the counter. We don't deprecate all 

 seeds that are sold at the groc< ries 

 though, for we find good beans, peas, and 

 turnips there; these we can seeand feel be- 

 fore buying them. Because seeds will 

 germinate and the plants grow like weeds 

 doesn't indicate quality; supposing your 

 lettuces grew with the vigor of cabbages 

 l)ut didn't wait to heart well, what would 

 be the worth of them? Ifyourcelerygrew 

 rankly but didn't clasp its heart together 

 and the leaves were hollow stalked, it 

 would be poor celei-y and ill-keeping. 

 Such seeds are cheap seeds. They are 

 grown in mild climates by the field with 

 little attempt at rogueing". And it is ior 

 this reason that our most successful mar- 

 ket gardeners are so very particular to 

 save their own seed from their very 

 choicest plants. As amateurs have no 

 means of knowing anything about the 

 crops from which the seeds were saved, 

 we pin our faith on the respectability of 

 the seed firm we deal with and are gen- 

 erally right. Remember, though, that 

 there are eminently respectable little 

 firms as well as big ones. 



Catalogues. 



W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadel- 

 phia —A book of over 170 pages, con- 

 taining all the standard sorts of garden, 

 flower and farm seeds, and many novel- 

 ties. It is one of the catalogues we value 

 highly as a reference book, because we 

 know how perfectly reliable the firm is 

 and how painstaking it is to have cverj-- 

 thingofthe best quality and exactly as 

 represented. Its great trial grounds at 

 Fordhook Farm place it in an enviable 

 position among seed firms, for there is 

 grown or tested every kind of seed that 

 is .sold. 



J. M. Thorburn & Co., 15 John St., 

 New York.— This is a gilt edged cata- 

 logue of 116 f)ages, and contains a vast 

 array of flower, vegetable, farm and tree 

 seeds, etc., also many novelties. It is a 

 catalogue we always look for anxiously 

 because of its fullness and trustworthi- 

 ness, and it lays on our shelfof textbooks. 



Alfred Bridgeman, 37 East 19th St.. 

 New York.— a catalogue of over (50 

 pages, full of flower and vegetable seeds, 

 l)erry and shrubbery plants. In connec- 

 tion with the seed trade the name of 

 Bridgeman is one of the oldest and most 

 respected in the country, and the prac- 

 tical books on gardening written by him 

 are esteemed in many a home. 



Othei-s crowded out till next issue. 



