THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. Ill 



toe profess to do, is to teach the way to produce them. The seed 

 should be sown in pots any time in March, and kept in the hot-bed. 

 They should be covered from a quarter to half an inch deep with 

 soil. When the plants are up, and have attained two or three 

 inches high, they may be pricked out either in rows on the outside 

 border of the bed, or in small pots, putting only one plant in a pot. 

 As they gain strength and increase in size, let them be shifted into 

 larger pots ; and, by the latter end of May, they will be ready to be 

 transplanted to their final destination, which stiould be in a sheltered 

 situation, with good exposure to the sun. Some should also be 

 planted against a wall, or trained to a trellis ; and when they have 

 made a free growth, they should be carefully trained to whatever 

 object they may be in contact. When they have shown a requisite 

 quantity of fruit, the shoots should be pinched off, so as to throw 

 all the vigour into the fruit, which will now swell and increase to a 

 desirable size. It must be borne in mind in cultivating this plant 

 in this climate, that the first-formed fruit only will be brought to 

 maturity, and to allow the plant to go on setting an additional quan- 

 tity, which will never ripen, is only to exhaust its strength, and 

 thereby injure that which it has already produced. The fruit will 

 ripen in succession during September till the early part of October. 

 Vegetable Marrow. — This, also, is a very excellent vegetable, 

 which is not so extensively cultivated as it might be ; and as there is 

 nothing peculiar or difficult in the management, there is no garden, 

 however small, which need be without it. The seeds should be 

 sown in a pot about the first or second week in April, and treated 

 much in the same way as we have directed for cucumbers. When 

 they have shed the seed envelope, pot them off into small pots, 

 putting one plant into each pot, and keep them in the frame until 

 they have made a free growth. They must then be " stopped," and 

 about the last week in May plant them out in a favourable situation, 

 with a considerable mass of well-rotted dung at the roots. When it 

 is practicable, the best situation is on an old hot-bed. If well fed, 

 they will grow luxuriantly, and as the vine becomes strong, it should 

 be pegged down at intervals, w ben it will take root, and contribute 

 much towards the strength of the plant. This is a most useful 

 culinary plant. The fruit is ready for use when not larger than a 

 goose's egg, and they ought never to be allowed to grow too large. 



There are several other varieties of vegetables which, though not, 

 properly speaking, belonging to the bot-bed department, are never- 

 theless, when wanted early, raised in this way: these are broccoli, 

 cauliflower, and celery. When, as is sometimes the case, these arc 

 wanted early, they are sown in pans, and pricked out, when large 

 enough, either on a hot-bed hooped over and covered with a mat, or 

 in some very warm and sheltered situation, and protected with the 

 lights of a frame which is not in use. After remaining for some 

 time in this situation, and having gained strength, they are planted 

 out where they are to remain, when the weather is favourable for 

 such a purpose. 



Besides the vegetables which we have mentioned as desirable to 

 raise in the hot-bed frame, there are also some of the tender annuals. 



April. 



