v.] SPRING PROPAGATION 27 



The early spring is the season for raising plants from 

 seed, and propagating cuttings, for the furnishing later 

 on of our borders and glasshouses. 



But these weeks of spring are almost always cold 

 and bleak, and seeds will not germinate, nor cuttings 

 strike root without a warm, shady, and moist atmosphere, 

 produced by artificial heat of some sort without an 

 atmosphere which is different alike from the cold blast 

 of the open and the glare and draughts of the stages 

 of the greenhouse. 



A shallow melon or cucumber-frame, into which a 

 hot -water pipe from a neighbouring boiler can be in- 

 troduced beneath the peat mould or cocoanut fibre, or 

 some such contrivance on a small scale within the green- 

 house itself, when practicable, is perhaps the ideal 

 arrangement for a propagating pit ; but where this 

 cannot be had, then a hot bed must be rigged up, and 

 this requires some skill and knowledge, for the necessary 

 heat may spend itself as quickly as it came, and cause 

 no small disappointment ; indeed, there should generally 

 be a second hot bed in succession. 



A good-sized load, therefore, of fresh stable manure 

 should be obtained, and turned every third day for more 

 than a week, with a good sprinkling of water applied when 

 the weather is dry, then built into the proper shape, 

 alternating each layer with an equal thickness of the 

 grass rakings and leaves of the previous autumn. When 

 built, and the frame in its place, 6 or 8 inches of 

 turf-mould, or sandy loam, or cocoanut fibre should be 



