384 FORCING GARDEN. 



dom expedient to sott before, the middle or end of 

 January, and sometimes it is soon enough a month 

 later. A seed-bed capable of receiving a frame with 

 a single sash is previously prepared. This bed., com- 

 posed of fermenting stable-litter, should be of consider- 

 able thickness, perhaps about fiv-e feet. Immediately 

 upon its formation, the frame and sash are placed on 

 it, and they are kept close till the heat begin to rise, 

 when the hot vapor is permitted to escape. Three or 

 four days after the bed has been formed, it is covered 

 over to the depth of three inches with earth prepared 

 beforehand. Rich, light, dry earth, is best adapted for 

 this purpose ; and, that it may be dry enough, it is pro- 

 per to use such as may have been protected from rain 

 during winter. A few small flower-pots are filled with 

 the same earth, and * kept in the hotbed, that the soil 

 in them may acquire a proper temperature. The seeds 

 are then sown in the flower-pots, and covered half an 

 inch deep; after which the pots are plunged a. little 

 way into the earth of the bed. 



AVhen hot vapor rises copiously, fresh air is admit- 

 ted by raising the sash a little. The frame is covered 

 every evening at sunset with mats, and is again ex- 

 posed in the morning about nine o'clock, sooner or 

 later, according to the state of the weather. A single 

 mat is sufficient at first, as the heat in the bed is gene- 

 rally strong. In two or three days after the seed has 

 been sown, the plants appear, when the glasses are 

 raised a little, to admit fresh air, and permit the escape 

 of vapor. Unless this be done, the plants are apt 

 either to damp off" or become yellow and sickly. To 

 guard against the casualties of the season, and the 

 chances of miscarriage, it is proper to make two other 



