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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( February 6, 18£8. 



filled with large plants of Cucumbers. In their young state, a 

 good many can he kept in a dung frame until they have attained 

 a fair size ; and though we have not a word to say against hot 

 water, etill we think that young Cucumber and Melon plants 

 come more robust and healthy in a dung-bed frame. Of course, 

 there is the sweet heat to be secured, and steams and damps 

 to be avoided ; but then there is no firing to be given, and 

 somehow there is that in the heat of dung and leaves when 

 perfectly sweet that no other heat can give so efficiently. The 

 best way for securing plenty of sweet top heat is to have the 

 outside of the frame well banked-up, so as to make the sides of 

 the frame conductors of heat. Wood is, no doubt, a bad con- 

 ductor, but still when a warm substance is long enough against 

 it, it will conduct in time, and continue to do so, so long as the 

 heat remains in the banked-up material. To secure this in 

 front, means should be taken to throw the rain oft' that falls on 

 the glass, otherwise that will go down by the sides of the frame 

 and even penetrate into the bed. For want of a better, two 

 slips of wood fastened together at an angle, make a tolerable 

 spout for taking away the moisture that falls on the glass. 



In the Peach house as the blossoms opened, and as the wind 

 was too boisterous to give any but the least air, the fire was 

 allowed to go out during the day, and a broad piece of wood 

 with a handle to it was waved over the trees in sunshine. In 

 quiet weather, when plenty of air could be given, this would 

 be less necessary. 



Proparjatiiig Ueds. — Many inquiries have been made as to 

 the best mode of securing these in small places by means of dry 

 or moist heat, and very minute answers have been given. For 

 small places and especially a living room, nothing can be 

 simpler than a glass-covered ease with a double bottom, the 

 upper one of Jjlate iron, or other conducting substance, and 

 a space of 2 or 3 inches between the two bottoms for hold- 

 ing water to be put in hot and partially or wholly removed 

 when cold. After some observation and experience we have 

 come to the conclusion, that as a covering to such upper floor, 

 whether on a large or a small scale, nothing on the whole is 

 hotter than sand. That will conduct the heat slowly and 

 always be clean, and when once heated it will keep the heat a 

 considerable time. Cocoa-nut refuse, especially when dry, is a 

 first-rate non-conductor. All coverings over a heated bottom 

 diffuse their heat best when the covering is moist. In such a 

 propagating case the atmosphere of the case con always be kept 

 moist enough if the sand en which the pots stand or are 

 plunged in is kept damp. If the atmosphere is apt to become 

 too damp the sand should be allowed to become drier, and 

 more air should be given when there is no sun, as when the 

 sun shines the case must be kept rather close. When the 

 tipper floor of such a case is perfectly close — air and water- 

 tight—then the owners should recollect that the heat given 

 off will be dry heat, unless modified by a damp covering. Some 

 peopletalk of the moist heat from hot water ; but if the hot 

 water is enclosed in an air-tight vessel from which no moisture 

 can exude, then the heat given off will be just as dry as if it 

 came from a stove or a fJue. The heat will be purer, because 

 freer from those exhalations that, if it is not very well attended 

 to, will proceed from a stove or Hue, but as respects dryness 

 there will be no difterence, as the degree of heat is the same. 



In a case with a close upper bottom, or a bed over a tank or 

 chamber similarly closely covered, a moist heat can always be 

 secured by allowing the bottom to be moist ; a dry heat by 

 letting it be comparatively dry. Under such circumstances 

 another simple mode may also be adopted. In the close cover- 

 ing have some holes left, to be covered with upright tubes, as 

 small round drain tiles, furnished with plugs at the upper end. 

 These pipes will give a dry heat to the atmosphere of the place 

 when wanted, and wholly or partially opening the plugs will 

 allow moist heat to escape just in the proportion in which it is 

 wanted. Almost all cuttings, except very succulent ones, like a 

 moist atmosphere, as the moisture in the shape of vapour 

 prevents the evaporation of the juices of the cutting — in fact, 

 keeps the cutting from feeling much its severance from the 

 mother plant, by forcing it to absorb, as well as perspire. 

 When the cutting becomes rooted and a plant, there is a danger 

 of its damping-off from an excess of moisture. 



When a propagating pit, or case, is heated by a flue, with a 

 rough chamber over it, or the bottom heat is secured by hot- 

 water pipes and a shallow bed of rubble over the pipes, the 

 rubble making a kind of rough chamber, it will often happen 

 that the obtaining suitable heat from these bottom pipes will 

 depend on the air .ibout them not being close or sealed-up, 

 as it were, from the outer air, and also on that air not being 



kept dry. An upright pipe at back and front of the pit- 

 say in each light, with its lower end among the lower rubble, 

 and upper end in the atmosphere of the pit, and to be open 

 and shut at pleasure, will, by pouring water down when neces- 

 sary, always secure bottom heat, and moist heat in the atmo- 

 sphere of the place when requisite. 



Many of our readers, however, will have none of these con- 

 veniences, but will want to increase their stock of Pelargoni- 

 ums, Verbenas, i'C, by means of a common dung bed, and to 

 make the most of but little dung too. V/here dung and leaves 

 are abundant we need not say anything, as there will be most 

 likely time and opportunity for sweetening it properly before 

 using it, and there will be no difficulty in putting up a sweet 

 bed of from 2 to ii feet in height, for to do much at this early 

 period the bed ought to be 2 feet in height ; and to secure 

 plenty of top heat the frame should be banked round, and if 

 there is not enough of material for that, it should be neatly 

 covered a couple of inches thick with straw tied firmly against 

 the boards. 



Where the material is scanty we would not work or sweeten 

 it too much, if there were either tree leaves or the material of 

 an old hotbed to place on the surface, to take the heat from 

 the fresh material, and keep all noxious steam down. This 

 plan is peculiarly applicable to beds for cuttings and seeds sown 

 in pots, as by moving the pots, which will be a work of neces- 

 sity, we can stir up the bed afresh at any time. Perhaps we 

 shall make the matter plainer by two instances in which spe- 

 cific directions have been required. 



A has three small cartloads of stable litter, very strawy and 

 rather dry, and two fair loads of tree leaves collected from 

 different places, a considerable quantity of bits of dry grass 

 along with them, and he wants to know how to make the most 

 of them for his bed as quickly as possible, and with as little 

 reduction of material as possible. Well, then, first pile the 

 tree leaves in a heap, and cover over with a few inches of the 

 long litter, and they will soon heat well. Then take the stable 

 litter and mix it into another heap, making the droppings go 

 as equally through it as possible, and water well as you go, 

 so that every bit of the straw shall be damp. Make the heap 

 tolerably firm, and just cover it with a slight casing of the dry 

 litter. In mild weather this will heat well in a week. In 

 eight days, if the heap is tolerably uniform as to moisture and 

 heat, we would use it directly ; if not, we would move the 

 outside covering and turn the heap, moving the top to the 

 bottom and the outsides to the centre, cover again, and 

 leave it for the best part of a week, letting the leaves alone. 

 In either case we would make the bed with as little delay as 

 possible ; and as the material is scarce we would merely make 

 the bed a foot or so larger each way than the frame, protecting 

 it and the sides afterwards as adverted to above. Then we 

 would thus proceed : take all the litter from the outside of the 

 dung heap and the outside of the leaves, and with that make the 

 bottom of the bed ; then on that build all the dung, shaking it 

 out well but quickly, so as not to let more heat escape than 

 can be prevented ; and on that we would place the leaves in 

 a similar manner, keeping them all by themselves, and if some 

 dry ashes or sawdust were placed over them there would be an 

 excellent propagating bed. 



L has rather more dung, but has no leaves, yet he has 

 the remains of a summer hotbed, which has a good piece of 

 material about half rotten in the centre, after all the rotten 

 part round the sides has been set apart for growing some fine 

 Celery. In this case, save carefully all the half-rotten material, 

 and after shaking it well pile it into a heap the same as the 

 leaves, and it will heat mildly, and will make a first-rate cover- 

 ing when the dung is used, as in the case of A. When there 

 are two small frames much work may be done with but little 

 material, as then there is no occasion to make the beds large, 

 and the one would succeed the other, and the first could easily 

 be renovated by taking off the surface covering, turning the 

 material below, and adding a barrowload or two to a light, and 

 replacing the suiface material again. We often do this with 

 a two-light box, renovating merely one light at a time, and 

 for such beds it is astonishing what a barrowload of fresh 

 warm dung will do when mixed with what was at the bottom 

 before. Nothing more than the leaves would be required for 

 covering, if sure that they were free from slugs and fungus ; 

 therefore, a little ashes and powdered lime may be necessary. 

 If sawdust is used, the bottoms of the pots should not stand on 

 it, or in it, for reasons several times given. 



We have only room now for a few remarks on sowing seeds 

 and on the management of cuttings. 



