1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



257 



tso ly c^jj >^sfc' 



TIic Vegetable Garden. 



BY W. H. W., nAIlTPORD CO., CONN. 



On making hot beds— The first step toward mak- 

 ing the hot bed is to provide suitable heating ma- 

 terial ; this is generally fermenting manure from the 

 stable, fresh made, strawy, coarse and finer mi.xed 

 together. This with a quantity of leaves, tree 

 leaves from the forest or elsewhere are the best, to 

 mi.x together makes a more lasting heat than the 

 manure from the stable alone. Horse stable man- 

 ure is the kind generally used from its quicker and 

 more violent action, yet other farm manure answers 

 instead ; but I shall suppose that horse stable man- 

 ure is the kind to be had. During the winter there 

 has been an accumulation thrown from the stable 

 into a pile well filled with litter, long and short. 

 Two to four weeks — depending upon how cold the 

 whether may be — turn over into a neat compact 

 pile, laying up somewhat loosely, a sufficient quan- 

 tity of this manure for your bed, moistening it 

 somewhat with hot water if the whether is very 

 cold ; shake up and immediately mix the whole as 

 evenly as po.ssible, leaving it in a neat round heap ; 

 a quantity of litter thrown over the whole will 

 tend to hasten and even the fermentation ; after the 

 heap has well begun to heat turn it over again 

 shaking it well to pieces ; in three or four days turn 

 again, bringing the outside again to the inside; in 

 two or three days it will answer to use in the bed. 

 The frame and sash all ready, now to making the 

 bed. The length and with of those of the frame, 

 set the frame facing south, length east and west, 

 and mark around, remove tlic frame and dig out the 

 trench two feet deep and fill in the maure evenly 

 all over the bed, be careful to make every part alike 

 in depth as well as quautity of manure, beat down 

 with the back of the fork as the work progresses. 

 Have ready a quantity of leaves and mix in freely 

 with the manure as laid up. Fill the trench full, 

 raising it sis inches or more above level ground, 

 being careful to build up the sides and ends square, 

 ind bank up. See that the top is level and per- 

 fectly smooth. The reason of being so particular 

 m laying up the manure bed is to cause the bed to 

 settle alike all over, or there will be inequalities 

 in the surface, and also inequalities in growth of 

 plants, etc. Now put on the frame and cover with 

 he such and let the heat rise to its height, which it 



will do in about two day.s, when you may spread 

 over the whole surface your prepared soil, which 

 should have been sifted and placed convenient to 

 dry. Cover the bed six inches deep with soil, rak- 

 ing and evenning it well; now put on again the 

 sash let it warm up. If the soil is quite dry it 

 will be well and to water from a fine rose water- 

 ing pot, with warm water, and let remain twenty- 

 four hours or more before sowing the seed. The 

 reason, ofter for the want of success in starling 

 seeds in the hot bed is too great haste in putting 

 them in, time is not allowed for the heat from the 

 manure to rise and begin to subside, and the undue 

 lieat destroys the life of the germ. After the heat 

 has reached its height and begun to subside is the 

 time to sow the seed, which we must defer to an- 

 other time. 



* » * 



The Orange and Angers Quinces. 



A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker 

 writes : " Are the Angers and Orange quinces the 

 same?" is a question I have had asked me a score 

 of times; and my answer has always been in the 

 negative. There are many varieties of the common 

 Orange quince, some are nearly globular; others 

 are pyriform ; and there are also a great difl'erence 

 in size ; still they are quite di.stinct from the Ang- 

 ers. I have varieties of both kinds now in bearing 

 as I have had for many years past, and the difl'er- 

 ence between the two is quite marked at this time. 

 The varieties of the Orange including the cele- 

 brated Rea's seedling, are now of a deep yello w 

 color, skin nearly smooth, except near the stem, all 

 very large, varying from three to four inches in di- 

 ameter. The Angers are small, seldom over two 

 inches in diameter, nearly round, with a slight elon- 

 gation at the insertion of the stem ; color dark 

 green and the entire surface covered with a woolly 

 pubescence. Although the Angers quince is much 

 smaller, later and less showy variety than the Or- 

 ange, its quality is excellent. It is also less liable 

 to the attacks of the quince curculio owing, no 

 doubt, to its hard surface and woolly coat; and 



ripening late it is a good keeper. 



« — ♦— * 



I^No plant yields anythiiig like as much nutri- 

 ment from the same extent of soil us the banana. 

 Baron Humboldt estimatcil that it returns 20 times 

 as much as the potato. 



