HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 75 



If a relative excess of either is permitted, failure is cer- 

 tain. A spindling growth will result from too much 

 light or heat; too luxuriant growth from an excess of 

 moisture and heat; and the plants are apt to damp off 

 from much moisture and deficient light. 



Having succeeded in producing satisfactory plants, it 

 is the policy of the gardener to transfer them to the 

 field as early in the spring as possible. 



IMPORTANCE OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. 



The study of atmospheric changes has in all ages been 

 pursued by men engaged in agriculture and the pasturage 

 of animals. To put out his plants judiciously, the gar- 

 dener must carefully observe the general season. The 

 belief in any direct effect of the moon upon vegetation, 

 is a mere superstition of the past. At full moon the 

 reflected light amounts to V 819000 of the sun's bright- 

 ness, not equal in intensity to that reflected by a white 

 cloud in a summer's day; and the heat at the same 

 phase reaches only 9 V 1000000 of a degree. It is now gen- 

 erally denied that the moon has any effect upon the 

 weather; yet observations extending through many years 

 seem to warrant the belief that changes of the weather 

 do more frequently occur at the moon's phases than 

 at any other time.* At any rate during fair weather 

 radiation is most active in consequence of the clear sky 

 attending full moon; and the gardener will do well to bear 

 in mind the great likelihood of an appearance of frost at 

 that change of the moon, about the time in spring he de- 

 sires to transfer his plants to the open ground, and to 

 delay the operation until it has passed. 



After a warm rain, if the wind comes out strongly from 

 the north-west, a reduction of temperature will follow 

 and a frost during the night becomes probable, if the wind 



*See London's Encyclopaedia, p. 445. Toaldo's 48 Years' Observations. 



