BRA 



BRA 



fine should be stretched along the middle of the 

 beds, and at every yard distance three plants put 

 in in a triangle, six or seven inches or more apart, 

 a little water being given afterwards, and the 

 glasses put on, which should be kept close about 

 tenor t\\ elve days, when the plants will have taken 

 fresh root; then prop them up on the sunny side 

 about three inches high with forked sticks, or 

 pieces of brickbats : or wooden pegs fifteen 

 inches long, each having two or three notches 

 an inch or two above one another, to receive 

 the edge of the glass, may be more convenient, 

 as, by sticking them in the ground, the glasses 

 may be readily propped higher or lower on any 

 side, as occasion may require. 



During winter, the glasses should be kept 

 almost constantly over the plants, only keeping 

 them tilted on the props in mild weather, on 

 the warmest side, for the admission of air: in 

 fine mild dry days, the glasses may however be 

 set quite off; which, if the plants be forward in 

 .growth, should be practised at all opportunities, 

 lest, by too constant glassing, they be drawn into 

 flower in their small winter growth and rendered 

 useless: but the glasses must always be put over 

 the plants at night, and when cutting winds or 

 frosty weather prevail, kept close down. In 

 severe frost they must also have long litter 

 laid close about the lower part of each glass, 

 raising it higher as occasion shall require. 



In their spring culture they must be thinned 

 out about the beginning or middle of March, to 

 one stout plant or two at most under each glass, 

 though, in large bell-glasses, the market-gar- 

 deners frequently leave more, for the sake of 

 having the advantage of the glasses to bring as 

 many as possible to early perfection. The 

 others should be planted out into another place, 

 as a piece of the same rich well-dunged ground, 

 the plants being raised with the point of a 

 trowel, to preserve the fibres of their roots, and 

 planted two' feet and a half distant each way, 

 water being given immediately to settle the earth 

 about their roots. 



The plants undtr the glasses should have the 

 earth directly made good about them, and a little 

 mould drawn up about their stems, continuing 

 to cover them occasionally with the glasses, 

 which must now be raised considerably on 

 props, in proportion to the advanced growth of 

 the plants; not omitting to let them have the 

 benefit of the full air in mild days, and that of 

 warm showers, by occasionally setting the 

 glasses wholly off. The glasses are to be con- 

 tinued occasionally over the plants until the 

 middle or latter end of April, or longer if it be 

 .necessary. 



When the plants are so far advanced as that the 



leaves press against the glasses, they should be 

 raised, bv forming a border or ridge of earth 

 round each hole of plants, three or tour inches 

 high, on which the glasses should be set, con- 

 tinuing to prop up one edge occasionally as 

 before: and according as the plants advance in 

 growth continue to prop up the glasses on 

 every side three or four inches in height. As 

 the length of the days and warmth of the 

 weather now increase, and the plants grow 

 frcelv, they require as much free air and scope to 

 grow in as it is possible to allow them under the 

 glasses. At the same time care should be taken 

 to continue to expose them occasionally to the 

 full air in fine days and moderate warm showers, 

 defending them with the glasses in the nights, 

 and in cold rains or boisterous weather, until 

 it becomes warm, and the plants are grown too 

 large for the glasses; when they should by de- 

 grees be fully exposed night and day, till the use 

 of the glasses be wholly unnecessary. 



At this period, if the weather be hot and dry, 

 moderate waterings will be of utility in promoting 

 the progress of the plants as well as increasing 

 their size and strength. 



In planting out the summer crops from the 

 plants that have been preserved in frames or 

 other situations and those plants raised from 

 seed in the spring months, open spots of ground 

 prepared in the same manner as those tor the 

 other crops should be provided; and the plants 

 be put in by a line and dibble, to the distance 

 of from eighteen inches to two feet or more each 

 way, water being immediately given if the wea- 

 ther be not moist, and occasionally repeated 

 till they have taken fresh root. 



It is the practice sometimes with market- 

 gardeners, in order to make the most of their 

 ground, to sow thin crops of radishes and 

 spinach between the rows of cauliflower-plants; 

 but this is not by any means adviseable in other 

 cases. 



The chief circumstances to be attended to 

 in the planting of these sorts of crops are: those 

 of providing good healthy strong plants; pre- 

 paring the ground with due attention ; using a 

 suitable proportion of manure; setting them out 

 in due time, not setting the plants too deep in 

 the ground; and to prevent their being injured 

 by damps and the slug. 



The culture which all the different crops re- 

 quire is only that of keeping them perfectly 

 clean from weeds by occasional hoeings, and the 

 drawing up the earth about the roots of the 

 plants two or three times as they advance in 

 their growth. The more perfectly this business 

 is performed, the more vigorous is the growth 

 of the crops. 



