30 Tetjok Gteo-wing in the South. 



planted whole. Potatoes should be dug and dried out for 

 several months before planting, to insure prompt gei-rai- 

 nation. It is well to test seeds before planting, especially 

 if you have any doubt of their vitality. Some seeds re- 

 quire a high temperature to germinate — such are peppers 

 and eggplant. Most seeds however will germinate at a 

 temperature of 80 degrees. A good and convenient way 

 of testing seeds, is to take a few bushels of stable manure 

 and dampen it, and put your seeds in a wet cloth and 

 place in the centre of the manure heap. If the seeds are 

 good they will sprout in a few days. Another way is to 

 plant shallow in a small box containing soil, and cover 

 over with a pane of window glass and place in the sun- 

 shine. By this plan you can germinate most seeds any- 

 time in winter, when the temperature does not fall below 

 35 degrees at night. 



SEED BEDS. 



For Florida and the lower part of the Gulf States, hot 

 beds strictly speaking, are rarely necessary. For section? 

 further north, however, artificial heat is required. Tn 

 preparing hot beds I will say that there are better authori- 

 ties on the subject, but for the amateur the following in- 

 structions will be found useful. If sash are to be used, 

 the bed should be as wide as the sash is long, and niade 

 as near air-tight as possible and built sloping toward the. 

 South. The northern sides being of inch boards about 18 

 inches in height and ten inches for the south side. Take 

 out about three inches of the top soil, place it on one side 

 of the bed, then dig out six inches deeper, placing this soil 



