44 



THE AMERICAN GARDENER. [Chap. 



straight. Then drop in your Cahhage seeds along* 

 the drills, very thin ; but, twenty seeds, perhaps in 

 an inch ; for, some will not grow, and some may 

 be pulled up when they appear. It is better to have 

 rather too many than too few. When you have 

 dropped in your seeds all over the bed, and distin- 

 guished the several sorts of Cabbages by names, or 

 numbers, written on a bit of paper, and put into 

 the cleft of a little stick, stuck in the ground ; then 

 cover all the seeds over neatly and smoothly. Put 

 on the lights ; and look upon your spring work as 

 happily begun. 



79. But, now we come to the management of a 

 hot-bed. And, observe, that the main principle is, 

 always to give as much air as the plants will en- 

 dure. I have always observed, that the great and 

 prevalent error is, an endeavour to obtain, by exclu- 

 sion of air, something to make up for the want of 

 bottom heat. It is not thus that nature operates. 

 She gives the air as well as the heat ; and, without 

 the former she gives nothing. I suppose the hot- 

 bed, made as above, to be about four feet high, 

 when just finished. It will sink as it heats ; and 

 will, at last, come to about a foot and a half Its 

 heat will gradually diminish ; but, it will give a 

 great heat for about six weeks ; and some heat for 

 four months. It is this bottom heat that makes 

 things grow. The sun is often hot in May ; but, 

 it is not till the earth is warm that vegetation ad- 

 vances with rapidity. 



80. Having secured the bottom heat, make free 

 with the air. Even before the seeds begin to ap- 

 pear, give air to the bed every day, unless it be very 

 cold weather indeed. The usual way of giving air 

 is by bits of thick board, cut in the shape of a tri- 

 angle, or, rather, like a wedge, broad at one end, 



