GARDEN YARD ^°^ 



Place a wooden framework round the bed and cover 

 with a sash. Do not water. If the sun shines brightly 

 in the middle of the day, cover the sash, and uncover as 

 soon as the sun's power is gone. In 4 or 5 days the plants 

 will be up, and as soon as they can be handled they must 

 be pricked off in frames standing on beds prepared in a 

 similar way to the seed-bed, except that the soil inside 

 must come half way up the board. Prick them out 2 

 inches apart, and do not water. They will stand here 

 during the winter and the work now is to watch them 

 carefully, remove any decayed ones or any showing mil- 

 dew. If any mildew shows, dust over lightly once or 

 twice with flowers of sulphur. Keep as dry as possible. 

 In hard, frosty weather cover the frames with mats, 

 but remove these whenever possible, and give air on 

 very mild days. 



" Towards the latter end of January prepare the hot- 

 beds, by mixing well together equal quantities of old, 

 dry manure and fresh manure. In both cases this must 

 be 'long.'* Shake out the lumps and lay the manure 

 down to the depth of 18 inches. Keep level and beat 

 down gently with the back of the fork. Make the beds 

 wide enough to extend at least 9 inches beyond the 

 frames. Tread the manure down and level up any 

 hollows. Lay the frames on straight and level. Fill 

 up inside one-third the depth with similar manure to that 

 used for the bed, then add 2 inches or so of the prepared 



* Note. — " Long" manure contains a good deal of litter that has 

 not decayed, so that the manure does not break up into fine particles 

 as "well-rotted" manure does. 



