612 THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. f/r/i»- 



placcd in any forcing-house now at work, either in large pots 

 planted in light mould and sufficiently watered, and blanched 

 by inverting another pot of like dimensions over them; or 

 they may be planted in the borders, and blanched by covering 

 with the proper blanching-pots. In either case, as they re- 

 quire little air and no light, any situation in the house, such 

 as behind the flues, or in any other place where no other plant 

 can live, will be found a suitable place for them. We would 

 recommend the following method for forcing this esteemed 

 vegetable, as being decidedly the neatest of any method that 

 we have seen practised. The experience of several years, during 

 which we adopted that method, convinces us of its superiority. 

 The expense, in the first instance, is more than that of any 

 of the methods in general practice, but the neatness of the 

 beds, both while they are forcing, and while they are resting, 

 will be sufficient to compensate for the expense, where neat- 

 ness is combined with utility. In forming the beds, which 

 should be rather above the general level of the surface, parti - 

 cularly if the soil be strong and wet, proceed by building pa- 

 rallel walls of open brick-work (or what is generally understood 

 by dove-cot work, such as is used in the building of cucumber 

 and melon-pits) of any length the beds are to be made, and at 

 two feet distant from each other, not including the thickness 

 of the walls, which for durability should be nine inches thick, 

 that is, tlie thickness of the length of one brick, or they may 

 be only four inches thick, which will answer the purpose 

 equally well, but will not last so long. These ^^^lls should be 

 three feet high, say two feet under the surface, and one foot 

 above it. The mould, previously to the walls being built, 

 should be excavated to the depth of two feet. When the walls 

 are built, every second space should be filled up with rich 

 light mould, having a good proportion of sand in it, about 

 ume inches above the level of the tops of the walls, to allow 

 for settling, in whicn lo plant the plants, which should be 

 chosen out of some one-year-old plants, being strong and well- 

 rooted; and which should be carefully planted in March or April. 

 They should be well supplied with water during the first season^ 

 and the surfiice of the beds kept covered a few inches with 

 rotten dung, both to enrich the plants, as well as to prevent 



