92 



KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 



[chap. 



early a season as to have cucumbers fit to cut in March, requires 

 great attention, some expense, but particularly great attention. 

 I shall, therefore, endeavour to give directions for the doing of this, 

 in as plain a manner as I possibly can ; and the reader will please 

 to observe that the directions given for tli# rearing of cucumbers 

 will also apply to the rearing of melons ; or, at least, they will thus 

 apply in very great part, and with those exceptions only w^hich 

 would be mentioned under the head of melons. In Chapter III. 

 we have seen how a hot-bed is to be made ; make such a bed, lour 

 feet high, in the last fortnight of December. Make it, however, 

 for a frame of one light only ; and let it extend every w ay to a foot 

 on the outside of the bottom of the frame. Put on the frame as 

 directed in Chapter III., ascertain when the heat is what it ought 

 to be according to the rule laid down in that Chapter, cover the 

 bed over four inches deep with dry mould, a good provision of 

 which you ought to have prepared and kept in a shed. Then, and at 

 the same time, put about a bushel of earth in a flattish heap in the 

 middle of the bed, and lay about another bushel round the insides 

 of the frame at the Fame time. Turn this earth over with your 

 hand once or twice in twenty-four or forty-eight hours, giving the 

 bed air in the middle of the day ; then level the bushel of earth 

 very nicely, and put in some early-frame cucumber seeds in as 

 great number as you may want, at half an inch deep, cover them 

 over, and press the earth gently down upon them. They will 

 appear above-ground in a very few days ; but you must take care 

 to give the bed as much air as it will endure, even before the seed 

 comes up ; and, after that, ai?- must be given in as great quantity 

 as the weather will permit, to prevent the plants from being drawn 

 up with slender shanks. If the weather be very severe, litter or straw 

 should be laid all round the bed, and quite up to the top of the frame, 

 to keep out the frost and to keep in the heat ; but, above all things, as 

 much air as possible ought to be given ; for there is always a steam 

 or reek in a hot-bed ; and if this be not let out, it destroys the stems 

 of the plants, and they very quickly perish. Yet there may be 

 snow, there may be such severe frost, as to render this giving of 

 air very perilous. In the night-time, it will frequently be necessary 

 to cover over the top of the lights, not only with mats (which 

 always ought to be done at this time of the year) ; but with straw 

 to a considerable thickness, besides the rnats. In this case, you 

 first lay tlie mat over the gUiss : then put the straw upon the mat: 



