152 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



manure, and in the case of the two former upon a continuous 

 supply, year by year, of four-year-old crowns grown especially 

 for this purpose and previously uncut. When the roots are 

 lifted they are of no further use after forcing, but when this 

 operation is performed upon the plants as they stand in the 

 beds it only takes place in alternate years and may be repeated 

 indefinitely. 



Where forcing is to be done in beds these must be made and 

 planted specially to suit the size of the frame to be used, and 

 for this purpose the French garden frame, 4ft. 3in. from front 

 to back, is very suitable. The bed is made 5ft. wide, with 2ft. 

 alleys between. The plants are set three rows to a bed, one 

 down the middle and the other two 1ft. from each side, with 

 the plants 1ft. apart in the rows. During November the beds 

 are covered 2in. deep with fine compost or sifted old hot-bed 

 manure. At the beginning of January the frames are set on 

 the beds, which are then covered with another Sin. of fine soil. 

 The lights are put on and covered closely with mats. The 

 spaces between the frames and round the ends are then filled 

 with fresh hot manure, which should come almost up to the 

 level of the light when well trodden down. It is a great help to 

 cover the beds with Gin. or so of fresh strawey manure the week 

 previous to putting the frames on ; this warms up the soil and 

 keeps the frost out. When the frames are put on the bed this 

 litter can be thrown into the alleys and mixed with the hot 

 manure. When the shoots have pushed through the soil about 

 2in. the mats should be rolled up in the daytime and the lights 

 slightly raised, so that the tops will become green by the ad- 

 mission of light and air. If the manure gets cool before the 

 crop is cleared, part of it must be removed and the remainder 

 well shaken up and mixed with some fresh. When cutting 

 is finished the frames and added soil are removed, then a little 

 manure from the trench is scattered over the beds to keep out 

 frost and the remainder is taken away. Forcing of open-air 

 beds must only take place in alternate years, and therefore 

 two sets are required ; they should be started in rotation, so as 

 to keep up a succession until the ordinary supplies come in. 



Forcing on hot-beds may be begun from the middle of 

 November to the middle of February. The earliest made beds 



