6 ON THE CULTURE 



dung. If this be not strictly attended to, the 

 plants will not be brought to that degree of 

 perfection, as might reasonably be expected from 

 a bed in its proper heat and condition.* 



After the bed has been laid and dealt with 

 according to the foregoing directions, spread two 

 barrows-full of old tan or light mould all over 

 the surface, having it a little deeper in the mid- 

 dle than at the sides. Old tan is certainly more 

 preferable than mould, though either will answer 

 the purpose. Let it be put in the frame the day 

 before the seed is sown, and cover the bed up 

 with a single mat at night, taking care to shut it 

 down until the morning, that the heat may be 

 properly drawn up. Take some forty-eight size 



* The heat required in October sown plants, while growing 

 in the seed-bed, is from sixty five to seventy degrees of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer. Should that temperature be 

 exceeded in this season, they will draw up very long : but 

 after being ridged out, more heat will become necessary j that 

 is to say, from seventy to eighty degrees : and the same is to 

 be observed with young plants raised in the three following 

 months. 



