FEB.] 



THE GARDENER. 



91 



In the stovehouse, the bottom heat of the tan-pits 

 must be sustained by forking up the bark (this at the 

 beginning of the month, and occasionally afterwards if 

 necessary), to give it time to ferment; the progress of 

 choice flowers and fruits cannot be expected if the heat 

 of the tan be not sustained. 



You will now be busy in forcing strawberries, French 

 beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, radishes, asparagus, sea- 

 kale, &c. If the peas and beans sown last month under 

 frames should now touch the glass, you can check their 

 tendency to spindle, by turning their tops towards the 

 back part (the north side) of the frame ; if they be 

 constrained in that position for a few days, by means 

 of a lath or any other contrivance, they will afterwards, 

 of themselves, take that direction, and branch out as 

 desired. 



Line such hotbeds as have cooled down, and make 

 new ones for melon and cucumber plants, from the 

 seed-bed. Cold beds will answer very well when re- 

 dressed for the radishes, which do not grow well in 

 the heat that is necessary for cucumbers, or for the 

 reception of cauliflower-seedlings and salading, picked 

 out from their native bed. 



Cover all your glass-houses, if possible, and frames, 

 completely with matting and straw during severe frost, 

 and if you have a quantity of dry leaves, you will find 

 them most serviceable as an exterior lining to keep off 

 frost : by placing short stakes round the linings of 

 dung or clay-mortar, as the case may be, you can 

 prevent them from being moved by wind : filling the 

 alleys between the beds of Anemones, &c., will be ser- 

 viceable, as security from frost, but will not supersede 

 the necessity of laying mats over the beds, while the 

 frost is prevailing. 



If you have not sown cucumbers in a bed made last 

 month, do not delay to do so now, or else procure 

 plants from gardeners who have sown at an earlier 



