25 



trodden over closely with the feet, and covered thick 

 with naked brush. If the frost is severe from this time 

 it is common to take off the brush some time in the 

 month of March, before the plants appear, and tread the 

 bed again, and at the same time give the ground a slight 

 dressing of manure. The dung of fowls of all sorts, is 

 sought after for this purpose, which being beaten, is 

 sifted over the bed through a coarse basket or riddle. 

 The brush is then restored, and not finally removed until 

 the leaves of the plants are half an inch in diameter ; 

 when the dressing of manure is again applied taking 

 care to wait the approach of rain for that purpose. Any 

 grass or weeds that may have sprung up in the mean 

 time are carefully picked out. In dry seasons, if the 

 situation admits of it, the bed must be irrigated by 

 draining a small stream of water around the edge of it. 

 If not it should be watered every evening with a common 

 watering pot, or pine bushes dipped in water and shook 

 over the bed until sufficient moisture is obtained. 



** Under a careful observance of this management, the 

 plants, according as the seasons have been favorable or 

 not, will be fit to transplant from the 15th of May to the 

 10th of June. A planter thinks himself lucky if he can 

 get his crop pitched by the 10th of June. After that, 

 the seasons are uncertain from the heat of the weather, 

 and the chances of success for a crop are precarious ; 

 though it has been known to succeed when planted in 

 the middle of July." 



In the American Farmer's Encydopcedia are the follow- 

 ing directions, taken, probably, from practice of medium 

 latitudes : 



" The land for the plant bed is usually selected in a 

 warm exposure on the south or south-eastern side of a 

 hill in a wood, new ground being always preferred. 

 From this the roots should be grubbed, the rubbish 

 cleared away and the old leaves raked ofi*. Brush of 

 pine or other wood is then to be piled on, until from 2 

 to 3 feet thick all over the bed, and this is to be set on 



