196 GARDENING. 



bed, as well before as after the plants show them- 

 selves. This should be done at midday and in sun- 

 shine, and as often as a necessity for it shall be in- 

 dicated by an accumulation of steam under the 

 glasses. At night these (the glasses) should be care- 

 fully covered with matting. These two prelimina- 

 ries (ventilation in the day and covering at night) 

 being carefully observed, your plants will soon show 

 themselves in a vigorous and healthy state, and 

 may be kept in that condition by a continuation of 

 the same means, and by moderately moistening the 

 earth when it shall appear to have become too dry. 

 The water employed should be of the temperature 

 of the air under the frames ; and, to secure this, it is 

 well to keep a supply of it in a pot placed in a cor- 

 ner of the hotbed. In about a month, the plants 

 thus raised will be fit for transferring to a second 

 and larger hotbed, constructed like the preceding,* 

 with the exception that the mass of dung must now 

 be greater, and that, after earthing, the bed should 

 not be less than three and a half or four feet in 

 depth. The plants, with the earth in which they 

 grow, are now to be taken from the pots ; an opera- 

 tion in which practice only will make us expert, and 

 which consists in placing the neck of the plant be- 

 tween the first and second finger of the left hand, 

 reversing the pot, and gently striking its sides until 

 the earth be disengaged. The discharged mass is 

 then placed in a hole previously prepared in the 

 square, where it is intended the plant shall ripen and 

 produce. The male flowers should not be disturb- 

 ed. When they have fulfilled the intentions of na- 

 ture, they will fall of themselves ; and if the branches 

 be vigorous and long, stretch them carefully over a 

 level surface, and bury every fourth or fifth joint. 

 This is best done by means of a wooden crotchet. 

 The objects of pinching or shortening the stem are 



* See article Asparagus for the formation of hotbeds. 



