308 GARDENING FOB THE £OUTH. 



set out in rows where they are to remain, four inches 

 apart in the row and the rows four feet apart; they are 

 protected during frosts and heavy storms by hoops and 

 mats, or by a covering of four planks a foot wide to each 

 row. These are supported by rafter-like supports, every 

 five or six feet, to which one of the planks is nailed on 

 each side, while the others are movable and are taken off 

 in all mild weather. The ends are closed with plank. 

 Instead of plank, white cotton cloth, prepared with lin- 

 seed oil, affords a suitable covering. They must have air 

 and light at all times when practicable. Slugs must be 

 watched, whether wintered thus or in a hot-bed. They 

 may be driven off by sprinkling the soil and plants with 

 quicklime. As early as may be safe in February, prepare 

 the soil between the rows, which, during the winter, 

 should have been protected from treading by a coat of 

 leaves, or a few old plank, and plant another row therein 

 with the plants twenty inches apart. Thin the plants that 

 were wintered to twenty inches, taking them up with a 

 transplanter, and plant out those not required for the in- 

 termediate row in a plot prepared for the purpose. Shade 

 a little with plant protectors until established, if there is 

 danger of their flagging; afterwards cultivate them as 

 cabbage. 



For the late crop sow in the manner above directed at 

 the same time with winter cabbage, from April to July. 

 An ounce of seed will yield three or four thousand plants. 

 The seed-bed should be of light, rich soil, and when the 

 plants are two or three inches high, they should be taken 

 up and set out in a bed four inches apart, shading them 

 until again established, or, if the weather is too dry and 

 hot, thinned to that distance in the seed-bed. They should 

 be taken up with balls of earth in a transplanter and 

 planted out at the same time with winter cabbage, in 

 rows twenty by twenty-four inches apart. Protect them 



