HORSE-RADISH 



437 



HOTBED 



HORSE-RADISH. (Cochlea' ria Armora'cia.) Delights 

 in a deep, rich soil, banks of a ditch, &c. Should the 

 ground require manure, it should be dug in at the depth 

 at which the sets are intended to be planted. It is 

 propagated by sets, provided by cutting the main root 

 and offsets into lengths of two inches. The tops, or 

 crowns of the roots, form the best, those taken from the 

 centre never becoming so soon fit for use, or of so fine a 

 growth. Each set should have at least two eyes ; for 

 without one they sometimes refuse to vegetate at all. 

 For a supply of the crowns, any inferior piece of ground, 

 planted with sets six inches apart and six deep, will 

 furnish from one to five tops each, and may be collected 

 for several successive years with little more trouble than 

 keeping them clear of weeds ; but the times for planting 

 are in October and February. 



Insert the sets in rows eighteen inches apart each way. 

 The ground trenched between two and three feet deep, 

 the cuttings being placed along the bottom of the trench, 

 and the soil turned from the next one over them. The 

 earth ought to lie lightly over the sets ; therefore treading 

 on the beds should be carefully avoided. The shoots 

 make their appearance in May or June, or earlier if the 

 sets were planted in autumn. 



Remove the leaves as they decay hi autumn, the ground 

 being also hoed and raked over at the same season, which 

 may be repeated in the following spring. 



in the succeeding autumn they merely require to be 

 hoed as before, and may be taken up as wanted. By 

 having three beds devoted to this root, one will always 

 be lying fallow and improving ; of which period advan- 

 tage should be taken to apply any requisite manure. 



Taking up. To take them up, a trench is dug along 

 the outside row down to the bottom of the roots, which, 

 when the bed is continued in one place, may be cut off 

 level to the original stool, and the earth from the next 

 row then turned over them to the requisite depth ; and 

 so in rotation to the end of the plantation. By this 

 mode a bed will continue in perfection for five or six 

 years, after which a fresh plantation is usually necessary. 

 But the best practice is to take the crop up entirely, and 

 to form a plantation' annually ; for it not only causes the 

 roots to be finer, but also affords the opportunity of 

 changing the site. If this mode.is followed, care must be 

 taken to raise every lateral root ; for almost the smallest 

 will vegetate if left in the ground. 



HORSE-RADISH TREE. Mori'nga pterygospe'rma. 

 HORSE-SHOE VETCH. Hippocre'pis. 

 HORSE-THISTLE. Cni'cus. 



HORSFIE LDIA. (Commemorative of Dr. Horsfield, a 

 botanical collector. Nat. ord. Araliaceae.) 



Stove, evergreen, spiny shrub allied to Aralia, and 

 requiring similar treatment. 



H. aculea'ta (prickly). Leaves palmatelv lobed. Java. 

 1866. 



HORT. A contraction of horte'nsis, belonging to a 

 garden. When placed after the names of plants it is 

 a contraction for hortorum, of gardens, and means that 

 the plant or the name originated in gardens. 



HORTE'NSIA JAPO'NICA and H. OPULOI'DES. See 



HYDRANGEA HORTENSIS. 



HOSA'CEIA. (Named after Dr. Hosack, an American 

 botanist. Nat. ord. Leguminous Plants [Leguminosae]. 

 Linn. ij-Diadelphia, 4-Decandria. Allied to Ononis.) 



Hardy plants, with yellow flowers, except where other- 

 wise mentioned. Suitable for front of borders and rock- 

 works ; seeds and division of the plants in spring ; 

 cuttings of perennials in summer, under a hand-light. 



ANNUALS. 



H. subpinna'ta (rather-leafleted). June. Chili and N.W. 



Amer. 1836. 

 ,, wrangelia'na (Wrangel's). See H. SUBPINNATA. 



HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



H. bi'color (two-coloured). |. Yellow and white. 



August. N. Amer. 1826. 



,, crassifo'lia (thick- leaved). 3. Red. June. Cali- 

 fornia. 1830. 



H. decu'mbens (lying-down). . August. N. Amer. 



1827. 

 ,, parvifio'ra (small-flowered). |. August. N. Amer. 



1827. 



,, purshia'na (Pursh's). . July. N. Amer. 1824. 

 stoloni'fera (creeping-rooted). See H. CRASSIFOLIA. 



HOSE IN HOSE is a form of double flowers when one 

 corolla is inserted within the other, as is frequently the 

 case with the primrose. 



HO'STA. (Named after N. T. Host, a German botanist. 

 Nat. ord. Verbenas [Verbenaceae]. Linn. 2-Diandria, 

 i-Monogynia. See CORNUTIA.) 

 H. caru'lea (sky-blue). See CORNUTIA PUNCTATA. 



latifo'lia (broad-leaved). See CORNUTIA PYRAMIDATA. 



longifo'lia (long- leaved). See CORNUTIA LONGIFOLIA. 



HOTBED is a bed of earth, or other material, usually 

 covered by a glazed frame, and heated artificially, and 

 employed either for forcing certain vegetables, for 

 raising seedlings, or for striking cuttings. It is heated 

 either by dung, or leaves, or tan in a state of fermenta- 

 tion, or by hot water. 



Hotbed of Stable Dung: Preparation of Dung. We 

 will commence with the dung fresh at the stable door : 

 the first thing is to throw it into a close body to " sweat." 

 Those amateurs who have plenty, and to spare, will do 

 well to shake it over loosely, and reject a portion of the 

 mere droppngs ; for these take the most purifying, and, 

 moreover, engender an over-powerful and sometimes 

 unmanageable heat, which, in unpractised hands, is 

 capable of much mischief. The main bulk of the material 

 thus thrown together will, in a week or so, become 

 exceedingly hot, and must then be turned completely 

 inside out ; and, in so doing, every lock or patch which 

 adheres together must be divided. Water will now be 

 requisite, and must be regularly applied as the work 

 proceeds, rendering every portion equally moist. After 

 the mass has lain for about four days longer, it is well to 

 administer a liberal amount of water on the top ; this 

 will wash out at the bottom of the heap much of its gross 

 impurities. In a few more days it must be again turned 

 inside out, using water if dry in any portion, and after 

 lying nearly a week it should be almost fit for use ; 

 but it is well to give it even another turn. If any tree- 

 leaves, strawy materials, &c., or any simple vegetable 

 matter is to be added to the mass, it may be added at 

 the last turning but one. The heap ought now to be 

 " sweet," and such may be readily ascertained even by 

 unpractised persons ; for a handful drawn from the 

 very interior, and applied to the nostrils, will not only 

 be devoid of impure smell, but actually possess a some- 

 what agreeable scent, similar to the smell of mushrooms. 



Beds. All things will now be in readiness for building 

 the bed, and one necessary point is to select a spot per- 

 fectly dry beneath, or rendered so. It must, moreover, 

 be thoroughly exposed to a whole day's sun ; but the 

 more it is sheltered sideways the better, as starving 

 winds, by operating too suddenly in lowering the tem- 

 perature, cause a great waste of material as well as 

 labour. The ground-plan of the bed, or ground surface, 

 should be nearly level. A good builder, however, will 

 be able to rear a substantial bed on an incline ; and such 

 is not a bad plan, so forming the slope as to have the 

 front, or south side, several inches below the back ; the 

 front being with the ground level, the back raised above 

 it. By such means there will be as great a depth of 

 dung at front as back, which is not the case when the 

 base is level; for then, unluckily, through the incline 

 necessary for the surface of the glass, the dung at back 

 is generally much deeper than the front, at which latter 

 point most heat is wanted. Good gardeners not unfre- 

 quently use a portion of weaker material at the back, 

 such as littery stuff, containing little power as to heat. 

 It is well, also, to fill most of the ulterior of the bed, 

 after building it half a yard in height, with any half- 

 decayed materials, such as half-worn linings, fresh 

 leaves, &c. This will, in general, secure it from the 

 danger of burning, whilst it will 'also add to the per- 

 manency of the bed. 



For winter-forcing a bed should be at least four feet 

 high at the back if five feet, all the better ; and as soon 

 as built let some littery manure be placed round the 

 sides, in order to prevent the wind searching it. As 

 soon as the heat is well up, or in about four days from 



