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In the course of t\vcutv-fi)ur hours the beds 

 will iti general take on heat, when ;i little air 

 should fie C()ii>taiitlv admitted, by tilting the 

 backs of the lights an ineh or more in laight, 

 and the fronts" about half that height, cxeept 

 when there is frost, in order to discharge any 

 rank heat or vapour that may be produced. 



The frames should be carefully matted up every 

 night when the sun begins to decline, and be 

 uncovered again before eight o'clock in the 

 morning, when the season will permit : as 

 perfect a regard should be had to this, as those 

 of air and water. 



Mr. Nicol says, that " a little kindly steam 

 in the morning is a good symptom, but it ought 

 never to be encouraged to any great extent." 

 He never wishes to see more steam in the beds 

 at this time of the day, than what is entirely 

 dispelled in the first hour after the frames are 

 uncovered. 



The bottoms of the pots or pans should be 

 occasionally continued to be examined, to see 

 that the heat is not too violent, raising and 

 watering them with water brought to a proper 

 temperature in the beds when necessary. 



When the plants have attained about two 

 inches' growth, they should be pricked out into 

 other small pots filled with the same sort of 

 mould, three or four in each, putting them as 

 far distant in each as possible, the mould being- 

 settled to their roots by a little water, replung- 

 ingthem in the beds to their brims, the surfaces 

 of which btino- previously wrought over to the 

 full depth of ihc sandy covering, and another 

 stratum of sandv loam applied as before. They 

 should be carefully nursed in these situations, 

 liy due attention to the admission of air, 

 the giving of water, and the regulation of steam, 

 continuing occasionally the examination of the 

 bottoms of the pots, to guard against too much 

 heat being applied to the roots of the plants. 



While the plants are thus carefully brought 

 forward to the proper state for being set or 

 ridged out in the fruitins hot-beds, which is the 

 case when they have acquired a vigorous growth, 

 and put forth three or four roi/gli leaves, some 

 stable-dung, in proportion to the extent of the 

 frames, should be got ready in the manner di- 

 rected above for forming the fruiting-beds, 

 which should be made up in the same way 

 •as the former. The frames and lights should 

 then be .placed over the beds in order to bring 

 up the heat and jMotect them from being in- 

 jured by v^ct. And when the heat has become 

 moderate, which will require lime in proportion 

 to the extent of the framing, the beds should 

 he earthed or moulded over, the surfaces of 

 them being previously rendered even. In per- 



formins; this business, the earth should be applied 

 in such a manner as to form a sort of hillock 

 in the middle of eacli light, within about a foot 

 or eighteen inches from the backs of the frames, 

 the whole of the other parts being covered equallv 

 to the depth of two, three, or more inches. 

 The author of the Scotch Forcing Gardener, 

 however, directs, that, when the dung is sus- 

 pected of heating to too great a degree, the 

 beds should be turfed all over as mentioned 

 above ; but where this is not the case, a large 

 round turf placed in the middle of each light, 

 exactly under the parts where the plants are to be 

 placed, may be sufficient; the surface of the 

 dung in this case being previously covered over 

 to the depth of six inches with light sand or 

 well rotted old tan, which should be first made 

 perfectly dry. 



Whichever practice is made use of, the beds 

 will in general be in a proper state for putting 

 the plants in, in about twenty-four hours ; but 

 before this is done the mould or earth should 

 be drawn up, so as to raise the hillocks to with- 

 in five or six inches of the glasses, exactly over 

 the turfs, leaving them ten inches or a foot in 

 breadth at the tops. 



In the planting or ridging out the plants, a 

 hole should be formed in each hillock, suffici- 

 ently large for the complete reception of the 

 plants with the entire balls of earth about 

 their roots, up to the level of the surfaces of 

 the hills, covering them over with a little mould ; 

 the whole being then settled with a little water 

 previously brought to the proper state of warmth, 

 and the glasses put on. 



Some, in order to promote the adhesion of the 

 mould about the roots of the plants, have recourse 

 to watering the pots before they are turned out. 



When the plants have been thus ridged or set 

 out, they should be carefully attended to in re- 

 spect to air, water, covering in the nights and 

 bad weather, the state of heat of the beds, lin- 

 ing?, the occasionally moulding the spaces be- 

 tween the hills, and the stopping and training 

 the plants. 



In regulating the first, the state of the season 

 and the beds should be fully considered, and air 

 admitted accordingly, by raising the back part 

 of the li2;hts. The waterings should becautiously 

 given in the winter and early spring, but more 

 freely as the warmth of the weather advances, 

 shutting down the frames for some time after 

 each ajiplication. In the more early crops 

 much less water will be requisite than in those 

 in which the season is more advanced, and the 

 former will stand in need of much less fVequent 

 waterings over head than those of the latter. In 

 these latter, shade is likewise occasionally neces- 



