1S8 GARDEN MANAGEME^'T. 



ficiently large to handle, the plants should be thinned to 2 inches apart, and 

 plenty of air given, or they will be dravni all to top. Mustard-and-cress is 

 usuall}'- sown round the edges of carrots or potatoes, or, indeed, in any such 

 space that oflfers ; but, where a succession is required, it is worth while to 

 give it a frame to itself. On a one-hght bed two feet high let the seed be sown, 

 and, when that is up, sow another light ; when the first is all cut, pare off the 

 soil containing the roots, replace it with new soil, and sow again, either in drills 

 or scattered evenly, but thickly, over the surface and pressed into the soil. 



462. Kidney -beans may be grown on a hotbed, but they are better grown in 

 pots, or they are apt to run all to haulm and leaf. In an ordinary hotbed, as 

 if made for cucumbers, place as many 6-inch pots as will stand 15 inches 

 apart. These pots being filled with good loamy soil, in each plant, triangu- 

 larly, three Newington-wonder beans, which is of small dwarf habit and a 

 great bearer, and, as they grow, give them regular waterings; but they 

 need not be removed, and the heat should never fall below 60°. They are very 

 susceptible of frost, and will require careful protection fi'om it, in common 

 with all forcing plants. Nothing can be better for covering the lights than 

 hurdles made of lath and straw. If sown in January or February, they will 

 bear in April or May. They sometimes require supporting with sticks. 



463. Endive may be planted in the frame in September, and blanched for 

 ■use in the winter, by inverting flowerpots over each plant, — ^just clapping the 

 pot over the centre of them, but by no means tucking the leaves into it. 

 Mustard-and-cress, if sown in a cold frame in October, will last a long time, if 

 protected from frost. Strawberry -plants maj'- be potted up, or the runners 

 laid into pots, and placed in a frame : they will bear much earlier than in the 

 open ground, and if treated occasionally to liquid manure, they will bear as 

 abundantly. — F. C. 



§ 5.— Plant-Cultuke under Glass. 



464. Without protection of some kind during the winter months, no collec- 

 tion of plants can be kept together ; but when mere protection is all that is 

 sought, it is easily obtained ; a trench 2 feet deep, dug in the ground, if the soil 

 is dry, and a drain at hand to carry ofi" surface-water, will sufiice, if covered 

 with frames, straw, hurdles, or other eflBcient covering ; for it is ascertained by 

 numerous experiments, that the earth at 2 feet deep is wai-mer \>y two or 

 three degrees than the surrounding air in winter. A vacant frame, a cold jDit, a 

 gi-eenhouse, or a conservatory, will also either of them serve the pur^jose. On 

 the other hand, where plants of a warmer climate are to be forced into early 

 bloom, or where exotics are cultivated, artificial heat must be applied, not 

 only to keep out the cold, but to similate their native climate and atmosphere. 



465. The arrangements to effect this, in time past, have been confined to the 

 greenhouse, generally a lean-to structure placed against the wall of some other 

 building, heated by flues or hot-water apparatus, to pits of various construc- 

 tions, or to simple frames adapted for heating by hot dung ; while places of 



