440 THE -AMERICAN FARMER. 



lent to manage than a wide one, and several small beds are more easily cultivated than one 

 large one. Dr. Thomas Pollard, recent Commissioner of Agriculture in Virginia, recommends 

 the following method in the care of seed-beds: 



&quot; The sowing of the beds should rather be too thick than too thin, at least a tablespoon- 

 ful for every fifty square yards, sowing both ways to insure regularity, and then later sow a 

 teaspoonful over the same surface. After the plants get four leaves, they should be forced 

 by application once or twice a week (some say even three times a week) of some good fertil 

 izer, or better, dry pulverized stable manure from horses fed on fodder and grain, to avoid 

 grass seed, to which may be added some gypsum. The fly, or flea bug, must be looked for 

 and combated by liberal applications of manures, to force the plants out of its way, and by 

 plaster, in which rags saturated with kerosene oil have lain for some hours, and by every 

 means which have been found to be available. Plenty of plants is the foundation for a good 

 crop. Better have a hundred thousand too many, than ten thousand too few. And it is 

 important to have them early. A forward crop is generally best, even if the late heavy dews 

 are not secured to the plant.&quot; 



To obviate the danger of cooling the soil of the seed-bed, tepid water should be used for 

 sprinkling the surface. Light and frequent waterings are preferable to a more thorough 

 wetting, as would be the case when applied but once or twice a day. The aim is to keep the 

 soil warm and moist, but not to saturate it with water. Liquid manure is very good for 

 stimulating the growth of plants after they have become well started. This can be made by 

 placing a sack of hen manure or guano in the barrel containing the water for sprinkling the 

 bed. Sproiiting the seeds before sowing will hasten the plants from a week to ten days; 

 but where they are not first sprouted, the plants will not generally appear until about three 

 weeks after sowing. 



The seed-bed should be kept free from weeds, the weeding beginning as soon as the 

 weeds are large enough to pull. This is a laborious process, especially where the seed-bed 

 has not previously received the attention requisite for destroying the seed of weeds in the 

 soil. The weeding should not be slighted, but attended to thoroughly, as often as necessary. 

 The use of commercial fertilizers, and burning over the bed previously, will save much of the 

 labor of weeding. &quot;When glass is used for beds, a portion of the sash should be raised each 

 day when the sun shines hot, in order to give ventilation and prevent the plants from being 

 burned. The glass should also be entirely removed a few days before the plants are large 

 enough to set, in order to toughen them sufficiently before transplanting them in the field. 

 On very cool nights, when there is danger from frost, or the plants being chilled, the bed 

 should be protected by a covering of some kind, such as boards, old blankets, or pieces of 

 carpeting. 



The usual rule is to sow two hundred square yards for every ten thousand plants 

 wanted. It must always be remembered, also, that unless the soil has been made previously 

 very rich, the plants will not have sufficient to feed upon, consequently will not grow, but 

 will assume a yellow, sickly appearance. A board frame surrounding the bed, fitting it 

 closely, answers a very good purpose for keeping off intruders, where glass is not used. It 

 also is very convenient for supporting and holding a cloth covering, that may be necessary to 

 protect against the frost or insects. This covering may be cheap, thin, unbleached cotton, 

 and costs much less than glass, and many consider it equally good. This is very efficacious 

 in keeping out the tobacco fly. Some other plant-seed, such as radish, could be sown outside 

 for the fly to work upon, in connection with the covering, thus securing a double protection. 



A recent writer gives his method of covering the beds with cloth, as follows: 



&quot;When your bed is rolled, put up, edgewise, eight to ten-inch plank all around the edges 

 of the bed, and on the end planks put gable ends cut from planks a foot wide, then a ridge- 



