162 



®l)e Jarmer's iUoutljln Visitor, 



is made, the heat will be up. Poke your finger 

 as deep as you can into the middle of the bed, 

 when you have taken off one of the lights. If 

 the heat be so great as to burn your finger, that 

 ia to say, if you cannot endure the heat.; then it 

 is too great to receive ithe earth; but if not, pui 

 on the earth allover the bed. If the heat be too 

 great, give the bed a little air, and wait tilla little 

 of the heat be gone off. 



76. The earth should be dry,; not like dust, biit 

 not wet. I made provision for my bed, by put- 

 .ting earth in my cellar, in November. It is not 

 much that is wanted. The bed is to be covered 

 all over, about six inches deep. When the earth 

 has been on twenty-four hours, take off the lights, 

 and stir the earth well with your hands ; for hands 

 are the only tools used in a hot-bed, When you 

 have stirred the earth well, and made it level and 

 smooth, you may sow your seed, if you do not find 

 the earth too hot. But, observe the earth is to be 

 level, and not sloping like the glass. The glass 

 is sloping to, meet the sun, and turn off the vvet ; 

 but the earth must lie perfectly level ; and this, 

 you will observe, is a very great point. 



77. Next comes the act of sowing. The more 

 handsomely this is done, the belter it is done. — 

 A handsome dress is better than an ugly one, not 

 (because it is warmer, or cooler, but because, lik- 

 ing it better, being more pleased wilhiit, we take 

 more care lof it. Those who have seen to or three 

 women together, crossing dirty streets, or in dan- 

 ger from horses or carriages, where the volun- 

 teer assistance of men became useful ; those phi- 

 losophers who have ^been spectators of scenes 

 like this, cannot have'failed to discaver that hu- 

 manity, like smoke, is very apt to fly to the fair- 

 ■est; and J much question whether Nicodemus 

 Broadbrim himseiti if he saw a pretty girl and 

 an ugly one stuck in the mud, would not give his 

 hand to the former. He would hand them io</i 

 out to a certainty ; but he would extricate the 

 pretty one Jirst. There is a great deal in the look 

 of our gardens and fields ; and surely, in so di- 

 minutive a concern as a hot-bed, all ought to be 

 neat and regular. Seeds are great telUtales; for 

 when they come up, we discover all the careless- 

 ness that may have prevailed at the sowing of 

 them. 



78. When you have taken off all .the lights, 

 make little drills svith your finger, from the back 

 of the bed to the front, half an inch deep and about 

 an inch apart. Make them e(jui-distant, parallel, 

 and straight. Then drop in your cabbage seeds 

 along the drills, very thin.; but twenty oeeds, 

 perhaps in an inch ; for some will not grow, and 

 some a)ay be pulled up when, they appear. It is 

 better to have rather too manyahan too few. — 

 When you have dropped in your^eeds all over 

 the bed, and distinguished the several sorts of 

 cabbages by names, or nuujbers, written on a hit 

 of paper, and put into the cleft of a little stick, 

 stuck in tlie ground ; then coverall the seeds over 

 neatly and smoothly. Put on the lights; and 

 look upon your spring work as happily begun. 



79. But now we come to the management of a 

 hot-bed. And observe, that the main principle 

 is, always to give as much uir as the plants urill en- 

 dure. I have always observed that the great and 

 prevalent error is, an endeavor to obtain, by exclu- 

 sion of air, something to make u|) for the want of 

 bottom heat. It is not thus that nature operates. 

 She gives the air as well as the heat ; and, with- 

 out the former she gives nothing. I suppose the 

 hot-bed, made as above, to be ahoul four feet high, 

 when just finished. It will eink as it heats; and 

 will at last, come to about a foot and a half. Its 

 heat will gradually diminish ; hut, it will give a 

 great heat for about six weeks; andj!«me heat for 

 four months, ll is this bottom heat that makes 

 things gro HI. The sun is often hot in May; but, 

 it is not till the earth is warm that vegetation ad- 

 vances with rapidity. 



80. Having secured the bottom heat, make free 

 with the air. Even before the seeds lieginao ap- 

 pear, give air to the bed every day, unless it be 

 very cold weather indeed. The usual way of giving 

 air is by bits of thick board, «it in the shape of 

 a triangle, or, rather, like a wedge, broad at one 

 end, and coming to a point at the other. Each 

 light is lifted up, either at back or front of the 

 frame, as the wind may be, and the wedge, or 

 iilter, Rs it is called, is put in, to hold the light up. 

 But, if more air be wanted, the lights may be 

 ehoved up, or down ; and, in a fine day, actually 

 taken off j' j 



61. When the plants come up, they will soon 

 tell you all about air; for, if they have not enough, 

 they will draw up long-legged, and will have 

 small seed leaves, and, indeed, if too much de- 

 prived of air, will drop down and die. Take care 

 in time to prevent this. Let them grow strong 

 rather than tall. Short stems, broad seed leaves, 

 very green ; these are the signs of good plants 

 and proper management. 



82. It will be necessary to water. Take off a 

 light at a time, and water with a watering-pot 

 that does not pour out heavily. Water just about 

 sun-set; and then shut down the lights ; and the 

 heat will then rise, and make the plants grow 

 prodigiously- 



83. As soon as tl>e plants are fairly up, thin 

 them, leaving four in an inch ; and stir ihe ground 

 about at the same time with your finger. This 

 will leave in the I'vdixie from twenty five to thirty 

 thousand plants. If you want less, sow in wider 

 rows and thinner in the row. But above all 

 things, give air enough. Do not attempt to make 

 the plants groiv Jast. You are sure to destroy 

 them, if you make this attempt. Have patience. 

 The [)lanls will be ready soon enough. Get them 

 Mrong and green ; and to do this, you must give 

 them plenty of air. Remember, that, out of a 

 thousand failures. in hot-bed culture, nine hun- 

 dred and ninety-nine arise from the giving of too 

 iiltle air. 



8.5. However, itis not to be presumed that a 

 hot-bed ground will be made by every fartner; — 

 and, Iherelore, before I proceed further with my 

 instructions about it, let me proceed upon the 

 supposition that the afore-mentioned bed is made 

 in some open place. In this case it will be ne- 

 cessary to use some precautions as to skelter. 



€6. While the dung is working, before it be 

 made into the bed, it nmst, in case of very sharp 

 frost, be covered, especially on the north and north- 

 west sides. If it be not, it will freeze on these 

 sides, and of course, will not ferment. Howev- 

 er, this is no troublesome job : you have only to 

 throw on a parcel of straw, or stalks, and take 

 them off again when the frost relaxes. When 

 the bed is made, this is wliat I did. I drove some 

 stakes down, four feet distant from the bed, op- 

 posite the north side and the westentL 1 tacked 

 a pole from stake to stake ; and then I placed up 

 along against this pole three or four rows of 

 sheaves of tall corn-stalks. This sheltered the 

 bed iVoni the north-west winds, and prevented it 

 from freezing on that quarter. Some sheaves 

 might, besides, if necessary, be laid against the 

 bed itself But observe you must be able to get 

 at the lights constantly ,to give air, and to see how 

 •things go on ; and, therefore, itis better to have 

 yotn- shelter at some feet distance from the bed. 



87. We now return to the bed and the plants. 

 J suppose the seed to have been sown on the lOth 

 of March, (Long Island, mind,) and that you have 

 been very attentive to give air and water. By the 

 lOth of April, the plants will have eight leaves, 

 and they svill form one solid patch of green. — 

 They will be a little rf.-au)n up, though you have 

 given them plenty of air. And now they must 

 be removed into a new bed. Dig out the ground 

 a foot deep, four feet wide, and to as great a 

 .length as is required by your number of plants. 

 Fill this hollow up with the best dung you have, 

 cover it over with four inches of good earth ; — 

 and plant your plants upon it in rows four 

 inches apart, and two inches apart in the 

 row. Wlien you have put out the plants, water 

 them lightly; and shade them for two or three 

 days from the sun. They must also be sheltered 

 every night in this manner. Take some rods, put 

 one end of each rod in the ground on one side 

 of the bed, and the other end on the other side ; 

 put these rods at about two feet asunder, all along 

 the bed ; then tie some rods iong ways to these 

 arched rods; so that when you have done, yoiw 

 bed has an arch over it formeil by these rod.«. — 

 Every evening about sunset, cover this arch w.iih 

 mats, with old carpets, or with a slight covering 

 of any sort, which take off again at sun-rise in 

 the mort>ing. 



88. To put out all your plants in this way will 

 require a «eri/ long bed, or many short ones. If 

 therefore, your number. of plants be very large, 

 the best Y,ray will be to put out a part of them in 

 this way, leave the remainder in the hot-bed a 

 week longer, (taking off the lights in the day- 

 time,) and then to plant all the remainder out in 



beds of fine rich earth, in tl>e nat-mal ground, 

 and without any covering. 



89. Now here we drop, for the present, the 

 subject of cabbage-plants ; because I am to speak 

 of their culture under the word Cabbage, in that 

 part of the work which will treat of the cultiva- 

 tion of vegetables. I am in this part of my work 

 to confine myself to the making and managing of 

 hot-beds ; and I have selected tiie cabbage-plant 

 as a subject for explaning my meaning, because 

 1 think that the raising of that plant is one of the 

 most useful purposes to which a hot-bed can be 

 applied in America. 



90. But a hot-bed may be applied to many 

 other pmposes. Lettuces may be raised in it. — 

 Pepper-grass, radishes, young onions, may be 

 raised. Parsley-roots may be put in, and fine 

 parsley obtained in March. Asparagus may be 

 raised in this way. It is not worth while to at- 

 tempt to bring cucumbers and melons to fruit 

 in a hot-bed ; but the plants may be raised there, 

 and afterwards put out in the ground with great 

 advantage in point of time. Several sorts of an- 

 nual flowers and of green-house plants may be got 

 forward by a hot-bed, which, without it, can 

 hardly be got at all to any great degree of per- 

 fection. Of the management of these sorts ot 

 plants in a hot-bed, I shall speak under their sev- 

 eral names; but on the management of hot-beds 

 there yet remain to be made some observations 

 which have a general application. 



91. As to heat and air, it will demand but little 

 attention to manage well. But a little ihermome- 

 <cr hung up or laid ilown in the bed, will be of 

 use. The heat should not exceed seventy-five de- 

 grees in the day-time, and sixty at night. If it 

 come down to fifty at night, it is better. If you 

 cannot keep it down to sixty without giving a 

 little air at night, give it, by putting something 

 under a light, or two lights, to let in a little of the 

 cold. For always bear in mind that when plants, 

 of whatever kind, be drawn up, they are nearly 

 spoiled. 



92. When the sun comes upon the glass, it soon 

 augments the heat ; and the air must be given 

 immediately, if possible, so as to keep down the 

 heat. Changes are very sudden in March, April 

 and May ; and therefore somebody should always 

 be at hand to attend to the hot-bed. But if the 

 master be from home, there is, surely, some 

 man ; or at any rate, a wife, a sou, or a daughter. 

 The labor is nothing, the trouble very little in- 

 deed, and all that is wanted is a small portion of 

 care. 



93. It may happen that the bed will get /oo coo/. 

 It may lose its heat sooner than you could wish, 

 especially if you use. it for cucumber and melon- 

 plants alter you have used it for things that you 

 want earlier.; and I shall show that this may be 

 very itseftd in certain cases. Now if the heat be 

 too much diminished, you may easily restore it 

 thus: make a little narrovv hot-bed, a foot and a 

 half icide, all round the lied. Put the dung to- 

 gether as before, place it close to the bed, beat it 

 well, and build it up, all around as high as the 

 top of the frame. This is called /i/mig; and it 

 will give tlie bed nearly as much heat as it had 

 at first. If you do not want so nuich heat, line 

 oidy the back of the bed ; or the back and the 

 two ends. In short, take as much heat as you 

 may want. 



94. Before I dismiss the subject of hot-beds, I 

 must notice that there are other contrivances 

 than frames resorted to in this kind of garden 

 work. A frame is, as we here see, a wood con- 

 struction, lor liglds of glass to be placed on. For 

 smaller concerns there are very convenient 

 things, called hand-lights, or hand-glasses. A 

 hand-glaiis is a square glass-hause in miniature. — 

 Its sides are about eight ,iiiches high from the 

 ground to the eaves. The roof rises from each 

 side in a, triangular foim, so that it comes to a 

 point at the top, as a jiyraniid does, the base of 

 which is a square. At this point is a sloid ring, 

 to lift the hand-glass by. ThCipanes of triass are 

 fixed in lead ; and Ihe rim round the boltom is 

 made. of iron or of wood. Any glazier can make 

 these hand-lights, and they are by no means ex- 

 pensive. Here, where the lax upon glass is so 

 slight, they cannot be more expensive than in 

 England : and ttiere they do not cost much inore 

 than a dollar each. They may be made of al- 

 most any size. About eighteen inches square at 

 the base is a very good size. In the gardens near 

 London there are acres of ground covered vf ith 



