JANUARY. 



584 



JANUARY. 



and moderately dry place, well exposed to 

 the light : here they will make short plump 

 shoots by the time the bed is ready. Pre- 

 pare a quantity of dung sufficient to make 

 a bed 3 feet 6 inches in depth. By the end 

 of the month the bed will be ready ; then 

 lay on 3 inches of soil, and place the pota- 

 toes 15 inches apart, covering them with 6 

 inches more of soil. Some seed of the 

 scarlet short-top radish may be scattered 

 over the surface. As these begin to grow, 

 give abundance of fresh air in mild weather, 

 so that neither potatoes nor radishes be 

 drawn up ; and as they come up, remove 

 the radishes from immediately about 

 the crowns of the potatoes; earthing-up 

 the latter will not be required. The 

 radishes will be ready to draw in March, 

 the potatoes early in May. 



Radishes in Frame. To grow radishes 

 in a separate frame, make up a hotbed 2 

 feet in height, on which place a two-light 

 frame. Over the hotbed place about 10 

 inches of loamy soil, on which the radishes 

 are sown broadcast or in rows, the former 

 being preferred ; press the seed in with the 

 back of the rake. This may be done from 

 the beginning of January to March ; but if 

 begun very early, a little auxiliary heat, by 

 means of linings, is required as that of the 

 bed declines. 



Seakale. This vegetable may be suc- 

 cessfully forced in the frame and melon pit 

 in the winter months, and a commence- 

 ment may now be made. The usual plan 

 is to make up a 3-foot bed, and cover it 

 with 3 inches of loamy soil, before putting 

 on the frame ; this allows more space 

 inside. When the frame is on, and the bed 

 of a right temperature, a little soil is put at 

 the back of the frame, in the form of a 

 bank, about 6 inches high, and sloping to 

 the front. On this bank, place a row of 

 seakale roots, laying them almost flat, as 

 this admits of covering them without an 

 undue thicicness of soil. When the first 



row of roots are laid, cover them with a 

 few inches of soil, and make another bank 

 6 inches from the first, on which lay 

 another row of roots ; and so proceed till 

 the frame is full. A gentle heat must be 

 maintained, but the light should be exclu 

 ded entirely from the frame, otherwise the 

 growth that is induced will not acquire that 

 whiteness and delicacy for which forcoi 

 seakale is valued. 



Strawberry Plants. These may now be 

 potted up, or the runners laid into pots, 

 and placed in a frame ; they will bear 

 much earlier under protection than they 

 will in the open ground, and if treated 

 occasionally to liquid manure they will bear 

 as abundantly. 



Vegetables, &c., in Hotbeds and Frames. 

 No appliances are more useful than 

 garden frames, yet none are more generally 

 misapplied in small gardens ; many garden- 

 ers considering them as proper only for the 

 growth of the cucumber and melon, when, 

 in fact, these should be considered but of 

 secondary importance. Of course, what- 

 ever is grown in them is entirely a matter 

 of taste, and, as a general rule, that may be 

 considered most profitable which is most in 

 request. The chief object in calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that other things besides 

 cucumbers and melons may be grown 

 and grown with profit in hotbeds is to get 

 rid of the idea so generally prevalent that 

 they can be used lor no other purpose than 

 that of growing these delicious members of 

 the great gourd family. 



Verbenas. Place verbenas that are to be 

 propagated from into a gentle heat, and 

 prepare a slight hotbed for striking cuttings 

 of these or any other bedding plants. All 

 bedding plants will bear a much stronger 

 heat while they are striking in the spring 

 than in the autumn, and it will be found 

 that verbenas will root in a week, placed 

 in a close pit, with a bottom heat of from 

 80 to 90 



