1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



211 



wide, clear around the whole outside. The 

 diagram on p. 210 will give you something of 

 an idea of this. 



For convenience in working we have the 

 dirt slope from the path up as it goes out- 

 ward toward the wall ; that is, where the 

 beds come near to the walls of the building, 

 the soil rises up within about one foot of the 

 glass along the eaves. As you stoop over and 

 reach toward the further side of the bed, the 

 slope makes it face you. as it were. This same 

 slope catches the rising sun on one side of 

 the house, and the afternoon sun on the 

 other side of the house. Tlie sides of the 

 bed next to the path are made by driving in 

 stakes and setting down wide pine boards. 

 You can get a giade of cheap pine boards 

 at almost any lumber-yard, 18 or 20 inches 

 wide. If you want the beds 2 feet high, 

 perhaps you had better take 2 twelve-inch 

 boards ; but two boards are not quite so 

 handy, nor do tliey look (luite as nice as one 

 wide board. The boards must be kept from 

 being pressed outward into the paths by 

 the pressure of the earth, by stout oaken 

 stakes driven well into the ground, say once 

 every four or, five feet. Let them slope a 

 little toward the bank of earth, so that, 

 if they get pressed outward it will tend 

 to bring them perpendicular instead of 

 over into the path. Now, the central beds 

 are like a long wagon-box ; and to keep the 

 box from spreading, as mentioned before, by 

 the weight of the soil, you can put a strip 

 across from one of the oak stakes to the 

 other, having the strip low enough down so 

 that you will not strike it in forking up the 

 beds. 1 would have these central beds per- 

 haps five or six feet wide ; for you can reach 

 to the middle on one side, and then go around 

 to the other side, and reach across where 

 you left off. We have found, however, that 

 a bed five feet wide is much more convenient 

 for working. The only objection to having 

 them narrower still, is, that every foot of 

 space under the glass costs money, and we 

 must economize all we can. On this ac- 

 count it is well to make the beds as wide as 

 you can manage to work them ; and tlie 

 paths should also be as narrow as will an- 

 swer. Ours are made sixteen inches wide; 

 but we have found, l)y experiment, that one 

 can get along very well with a path only a 

 foot wide to work in. As the sash only just 

 clears your head, if yoii are in danger of top- 

 pling over in consequence of a path so 

 narrow, you can steady yourself by putting 

 your hand on a sash-bar. The soil in tliese 

 beds is never to be tramped on at all. It is 



sifted so as to be light and soft ; and when 

 you are sitting down on the bed, putting out 

 plants, always sit on a wide board. This 

 firms the soil just right for the plants, and 

 does not pack th(^ ground as it would to step 

 on it. It order to give you a clear idea of 

 the arrangement, we submit below a trans- 

 verse section of the house from east to west. 



GKEENIIOUSE KOK RAISING PLANTS AND 

 VEGETABLES. 



You will notice that the roof is very much 

 after the fashion of the asparagus-house 

 pictured in Chapter XXXVI. The outside 

 sashes have a middling strong slope ; but 

 as we are stooping over when w^e are work- 

 ing on these beds, it does not matter very 

 much. 



You will notice that I have shown the 

 central path nearly twice the width of the 

 others ; this is on account of the gas-pipe 

 supports coming right in the middle of the 

 walk. I don't quite like this; but where 

 the sash is so low^ that it only just clears 

 one's head, 1 do not know how else to fix it. 

 The letters, a, a, a, represent the ends of the 

 pine string-pieces ; g, g, G, are the gas-pipe 

 supports. In practice, the beds are not 

 rounded up quite as plump as they show in 

 our diagram. There are six gas-pipe sup- 

 ports in the whole structure— two under 

 each pine stringer. 



None but one who has tried it can imag- 

 ine how much nicer and easier it is to work 

 in this than in a greenhouse where the beds 

 are away up high. Yes, it is much handier 

 than beds that are three feet from the 

 ground— especially so in transplanting seed- 

 ling plants. A walk 18 inches or two feet 

 below the siuface of the bed is just about 

 right to give room for your feet ; in other 

 words, the surface of the bed is just the 

 right height from the bottom of the path to 

 allow^ you to sit down comfortably and easi- 

 ly. You can change around on jour wide 

 board from one side to the other. No mat- 

 ter what the weather is, you are out of the 

 cold wind and air, while you have every bit 

 of sunshine that is to be had. Further- 

 more, the labor of caring for the plants is 

 nothing, when compared with that of boxes 

 and Hats, so often recommended. When 



