30 



now put on the glass, and when the thermometer ranges 

 between 50*^ at night and 80S during the day, your bed 

 is just right. Xow add three or four inches more of the 

 same kind of earth, and the next day after raking all 

 smooth and level, sow about one ounce of seed, to the 

 range of beds six feet wide and fifty feet long. This, if 

 successful, should give good plants enough for two acres, 

 or at three inches each way in the bed, enough for one 

 acre. Do not cover the seeds in the beds, but pat the 

 earth down, thus pressing the seeds into the earth. 

 Cover and keep moist until they germinate, which should 

 be in about ten days. After the plants are up, they 

 should have plenty of air in pleasant weather to make 

 them hardy and stocky. 



More plants are destroyed in hot beds by novices 

 from keeping too close than in any other way. Water 

 at sufficient intervals with slightly warm water, gener- 

 ally about noon, and cover all with hay or mats in cold 

 weather. Extra fine plants may be obtained by making 

 a second bed, the last week in April, using only twelve 

 inches of manure, and transplanting* therein about the 

 first of May, the best plants from the first bed, three 

 inches apart, and shading until they get established, 

 using shutters and hay to cover with in cold weather, or 

 a cold frame may be used, which is simply a bed with- 

 out bottom heat. In this case the glass must be trans- 

 ferred from the first bed to the second, and the first one 

 covered with shutters and^mats or hay. Remember that 

 they are very susceptible to frost, and want careful 

 watching. In case you pursue the latter course, the first 

 bed may be made about the 20th of March, ten days ear- 

 lier than first suggested. 



Another way, somewhat practiced, is to dig up a piece 

 of ground in a sheltered situation, free from frost, and 

 burn thereon a quantity of straw. After raking tho- 

 roug'hly, sow the seed at the rate of one ounce to the 

 square rod, beating the ground smooth, and cover with 

 brush until the seed germinates. A pen should be built 

 around this, so that it may be covered in cold nights 

 with boards and hay. The pen to be banked up at the 



