<8 97 . 



GARDENLWi. 



<7< 



we can get the heating material ready, 

 the loam under cover, and the box or pit 

 or the frame ready. 



At this time of the year a hotbed should 

 be in a well sheltered, sunny spot sloping 

 to or facing 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 



ANTOINE CROZY. 



the frame or box above the surface level 

 should be one loot high in front and 

 eighteen inches or over at back, and 

 banked around with loam or 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 move- 

 able. 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 never 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 are forced to 

 use the manure before it is quite hot shake 



it loosely and evenly 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 nine or 

 twelve inches from the top ol the frame, 

 according to whether you are going to 

 sow seeds or plant lettuces, and there 

 should be a layer of four or five inches oi 

 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 c 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 ovei 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 days 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 days at a time. 



The Fruit Garden. 



PRUNING GRAPE VINES. 



The pruning of grape vines may be 

 proceeded with at any time after the leaves 

 fall. There is no need to delay the work 

 until toward spring, as so many do; and 

 how much nicer a trellis looks after the 

 vines are pruned and tied than it does 

 with the canes banging about as thev 

 grew. 



To prune a grape properly it must be 

 borne in mind that, like all other vines, it 

 is apt to become bare of shoots at the 

 base. It aspires to get out of reach, 

 which is what an owner of a vine seldom 

 requires. Sometimes in spite of the at- 

 tempts to keep it well supplied from bot- 

 tom to top with young canes there will 

 be too much top growth at the expense 

 of the bottom, in which case there must 

 be a cutting back of one or more oi the 

 old canes, that new ones may arise from 

 the ground. All systems of pruning must 

 have for a basis the providing of young 

 canes over the whole surface to be covered. 



Of the two plans mostly followed, one 

 aims to provide new canes from the 

 ground every year. When the vine is 

 planted it is so pruned that three or four 

 good canes are produced. Every yearthe 

 half of the number are cut down to near 

 the ground that new ones may spring 

 forth when the season comes. Those not 

 cut back are the Sues which will give the 

 iruit. But even fhese are often the better 

 for being shortened in. A long cane will 

 give a great number of bunches. When 

 shortened, though the number is lessened 

 the weight of the crop is not, as addi- 

 tional nourishment finds its way to the 

 bunches produced. [See page 172] 



• Blooms fromjuly till frost 



jjfe" Cjows only 4i feet h M 



(olor Snowy White, tinted with fyse.T? 



Price 25 cts. Per Packet. \ 



.and to each purcboser will besent 



ijjIfiP ' fjunJsomf hock of Ifa paaes,W]t}} i 

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HENRYA.DREIR. 



714 CHESTNUT SI 



PHILADELPHIA. 



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of American-grown hardy sorts. 



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 GLADIOLI, CANNAS, OLIVIAS, 



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PALMS. 



I offer extra large specimens of Latanla bor- 

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ERNST WIENHOEBER, 



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