366 FORCING GARDEN. 
to rise, when the hot vapor is permitted to escape. Three 
or four days after the bed has been formed, it is covered 
over to the depth of three inches with earth prepared be- 
forehand: Rich, light, dry earth, is best adapted for this 
purpose; and, that it: may be dry enough, it is proper to 
use such as may have been protected from rain during 
winter. A few small flower-pots are filled with the same 
earth, and kept in the hotbed, that the soil in them. may 
acquire a proper temperature. The seeds are then sown 
in the flower-pots, and covered half an inch deep; after 
which the pots are plunged a little way into the earth of 
the bed. , 
- When hot vapor rises copiously, fresh air is admitted by 
raising the sash a little. The frame is covered every even- 
ing at sunset with mats, and is again exposed in the morn- 
ing about nine o'clock, sooner or later, according to the 
state of the weather. A single mat is sufficient at first, as 
the heat in the bed is generally strong. In two or three 
days after the seed has been sown, the plants appear, when 
the glasses are raised a little, to admit fresh air, and per- 
mit the escape of vapor. Unless this be done, the plants 
are apt either to damp off or become yellow and sickly. 
To guard against the casualties of the season,.and the 
chances of miscarriage, it is proper to make two other 
sowipgs at short intervals, so that,,if any accident befall 
the first plants, the others may supply their place. Two 
or three days: after the plants. have come up, they are 
transplanted into other.small pots, only two or three being 
put into-each pot. . If the earth be very dry, it is now 
moistened with a little slightly tepid water. The pots are 
then plunged into,the,earth, and much care and watehful- 
ness are employed to prevent the roots from being scorched. 
When the transplanted seedlings begin to grow, they are 
