AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 319 



in frames like hot beds, but without heat, and these grow under glass, large 

 enough to set, by the time the field is ready. Then the plants of the late 

 cabbage are from seed sown in the open ground in April, May or June. 

 The ground for cabbage plants should always be very rich. 



Mr. Quinn. — We sow the seed for cold frames in September, and trans- 

 plant in October into the cold frames, setting from 500 to 800 plants under 

 a light of glass. The glass is covered in winter with boards, and air is 

 given in mild days ; and we sometimes set the plants out in the field so 

 early that snow covers them without injury. 



R. G. Pardee. — A neighbor of mine at Palmyra used to sow seed in open 

 ground, and before freezing covered the plants with mats, and before winter 

 he puts over a frame covered with boards, and on them earth, leaving one 

 end open for air as long as he dares to, and then closes up both ends, and 

 occasionally ventilating the bed during winter. 



Mr. Carpenter, gardener, of Brooklyn, stated that he had successfully 

 grown cabbage plants in a similar way to the above, using salt hay for a 

 covering. 



Mr. Fuller showed an improved form of glass for-hot beds, rounding on 

 the lower edge. This tends to keep the flow of water in the center. 



John G. Bergen. — One of the most important things about growing hot- 

 bed plants is giving them air judiciously. 



Mr. Wheeler, of Wayne county, thinks this an important question for 

 the country, if farmers can be taught so as to make cheap hot-beds for fam- 

 ily use. 



W. S. Carpenter. — My plan for a hot-bed for family use, is to prepare 

 my ground in the fall by digging out the earth 2^ feet deep, and leave the 

 sash on over that hole till March, when I put in the manure and earth pre- 

 pared for the seed, and sow it. I plant corn and other vegetables in pieces 

 of inverted sods, so as to take up the pieces of sods with the plants root- 

 ed in them, I have thus been able to get green corn the first of July. 



My hot-bed lettuce I do not pull up, but cut ofi", and the root sprouts out 

 successive crops. 



Mr. Wright, of Poughkeepsie, said that he used half turnips, in place of sods, 

 for corn. He inserts the seeds in the turnip, and that rots, and the 

 corn grows rapidly. Melons may be grown in the same way. 



John Gr. Bergen. — Any farmer may put down a hot-bed about March 1, 

 and fill in two feet deep of manure and dirt, and if he has no mats to cover 

 with, he may cover with boards. 



Mr. Pardee said that he had used oiled cotton cloth as a substitute for glass, 

 with good success. 



Mr. Grale said that he had known a good many persons grow early plants 

 by sowing the seeds in sods, and keeping them in a warm place in the house 

 until time to plant them out. 



Mr. Wright. — In planting musk-melons, we are pretty sure to succeeed 

 with the seed planted after the earth becomes warm. But I am able to get 

 them forward very early by using the turnips. The great error of meloa- 



