68 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the second week in May. As coleus should never be set before the 

 second week in June it leaves this last set of slips almost a month to 

 grow before bedding out and there must have been slips on the old 

 plants to have been rooted, so you can by this process get a large 

 increase of plants by the time you are ready to set them. This is 

 not as much like the milkmaid's counting as it might seem, for a 

 friend has tried this method for several years with perfect success. 



As there is some trouble attending the making of hot-beds I prefer 

 a frame bed, heated by a small kerosene lamp, constructed after the 

 following method. The frame which we have used for several 3'ears, 

 and large enough for ordinar}' use, is sixteen b}' thirty inches, fifteen 

 inches high in front and eighteen at the back. About half way from 

 the top ai-e nailed cleats to receive common roofing slates to form the 

 bottom of the bed, on which are put two or three inches of wet sand. 

 Bore a few small holes below the slate to supplj' air to the lamp, which 

 ma3' be very small. Fasten a piece of sheet iron just above the lamp 

 chimney to distribute the heat. Cover the bed with a sash and set in 

 a shad^' place. The first cost of this may be more than a hot-bed, 

 but it has the advantage of being readj' at any time when once made. 



Then I would suggest making larger beds composed only in part 

 of coleus, the center being made up of inexpensive plants of large 

 growth raised from seed — ricinus, or castor bean, makes a fine 

 large specimen plant for the center, surrounded by six or eight 

 cannas, these in turn by zonale geraniums, of which most people 

 have a good supply in the spring. Outside of these coleus, which 

 ma}^ have still another row of blue lobelia, which will show a line of 

 blue mist during the whole summer in fine contrast to the green of 

 the turf. Still other beds with the coleus plants set at some distance 

 apart may have a matting of some low-growing fancy foliage or 

 fine flowering plants of contrasting color forming an undertone. The 

 matting planted in the spaces may be seedlings like sweet alyssum, 

 white or blue lobelia, or anything that will form a close mass of 

 color. 



I know of a bed where the coleus were put at some distance apart 

 at the setting, and then as they needed cutting back, as the}' must 

 be to keep them of uniform size, the slips were set in the spaces and 

 on the front edges, and before the summer was far advanced the 

 bed was well filled, looking nearly as well as if set close at first. 

 As the coleus can not be set in beds before June, these beds would 

 be empty, unsightly spots on the grounds after the grass had started 



