l>UO rur. PRACTICAL GARDKNER. [.fufl. 



not hurt in any temperature varying from GO^ to 80°, providctl 

 the transitions from both extremes do not occur too frequently, 

 and at the same time too suddenly. After the seeds are sown, 

 the bed should be carefully watched, for fear of the mice, which 

 will begin to abound in the frame-ground about this season, 

 and, if not kept down, w ill be very destructive, both to melon 

 and cucumber-plants. When the seeds are sown, cover each 

 pan or pot with pieces of glass, or a bell-glass, taking care to 

 remove it as soon as the young leaves begin to expand. As 

 the plants appear above ground, if the mould in the pots 

 appear to be dry, give them a little water that has stood for 

 some hours in the bed, or which has been brought to a tem- 

 perature equal to that of the bed, or nearly so ; but be careful 

 not to give much at a time. If the heat in the bed becomes 

 too violent, then, if the pots or pans have been partly or 

 wholly plunged, draw them up a little, or take them up alto- 

 gether, and stand them upon the surface until the bed declines 

 in heat ; without this precaution, the roots of the plants would 

 De liable to be destroyed by too much heat. As the plants 

 begin to grow, admit air in a sufficient quantity, at all times, 

 into the bed, to guard against drawing the plants up weakly, 

 and remove the mats as soon after sun-rise in the morning as 

 possible, to give the plants as much of its invigorating influ- 

 ence as possible. 



If the bed be not placed in a situation extremely well shel- 

 tered against cutting winds, it will be necessary to protect the 

 linings with reed-mats, hurdles thatched with straw, or bean- 

 haulm, or such like materials ; for, when the wind is allowed 

 to blow violently against the bed, the heat can never be de- 

 pended upon, and will never be uniform. Sometimes a fine 

 steady heat will be blown out of a bed of such small dimen- 

 sions in a few hours; and, if not blown out altogether, will 

 be blown from one corner to another, consequently one j\art 

 will be too cold, while another is too hot, and the plants will 

 be all endangered, and perhaps some, if not all, totally de- 

 stroyed. In building a seed-bed at this season, it is advisable 

 to make it at least a foot or fifteen inches larger than the 

 frame; this allowance can be readily cut off, when it is found 

 necessary to apply linings; and if, in forming the bottom of 



