522 



FORCING SALADS, POT-HERBS, &C. 



soil may be stirred and a second crop sown. Where there is a constant 

 demand for small salading, a sowing requires to be made every week. 



1108. Radish. — To obtain the earliest spring radishes, Abercrombie 

 directs to " sow on a hot-bed, of dung or leaves^ some of the early dwarf 

 short-top varieties in December, January, or the beginning of February. 

 Having made a hot-bed two feet or two and a-half feet high of dung, place 

 on the frame. Earth the bed at top six inches deep ; sow on the surface, 

 covering the seed with fine mould about half an inch thick ; and put on the 

 glasses. When the plants have come up, admit au- every day in mild or tole- 

 rably good weather, by tilting the upper end of the lights, or sometimes the 

 front, one, two, or three inches, that the radishes may not draw up weak and 

 long-shanked. If they have risen very thick, thin them in young growth, 

 moderately at first, to about one or two inches apart. Be careful to cover 

 the glasses at night. Give gentle waterings about noon, on sunny days. 

 If the heat of the bed declines much, apply a moderate lining of warm 

 dung or stable litter to the sides, which, by gently renewing the heat, will 

 forward the radishes for drawing in February and j\Iarch. Remember, as they 

 advance in growth, to give more copious admissions of air daily, either by 

 tilting the lights in front several inches, or, in fine mild days, by drawing 

 the glasses mostly off : but be careful to draw them on again in proper 

 time. Small turnip-radishes of the white and red kinds may be forced in 

 the same manner. For raising early radishes on ground not accommodated 

 with frames, a hot-bed made in February may be arched over with hoop- 

 bends or pliant rods, which should be covered with mats constantly at night, 

 and durmg the day in very cold weather. In moderate days turn up the 

 mats at the warmest side, and on a fine mild day take them wholly off." 



1109. To produce full-grown cabbage-lettuces througJwut the winter is a 

 desideratum in Holland, where the higher classes have cabbage-lettuces on 

 their tables ever}'- day in the year. The seed is sown on the first of 

 September, and when the plants have produced their fourth leaf they are 

 transplanted into a melon-bed which has done bearing ; and as soon as they 

 have taken root, abundance of air is given night and day. In October, 

 when the air grows cold, and the heads of the cabbage-lettuce begin to get 

 close or hard, air is no longer given, and the lights are entirely closed ; but 

 the leaves must be prevented from touching the glass, as, if they do, the 

 least unexpected frost will hurt their edges, and the consequence will be 

 that the plants will rot. In this case the frame will have to be lifted every 

 now and then. When the nightly frosts commence, generally in October, 

 great attention must be paid to covering the beds with a single layer of bast 

 mats, and adding slight linings; yet too much covering is to be avoided 

 before the plants are grown to perfect heads. Watering is quite out of the 

 question, and even very hurtful ; care, indeed, should be taken to prevent 

 moist are as much as possible. Cover more or less, according to the severity 

 of the weather, and keep the lights uncovered in the day, whenever and as 

 much as the weather will permit. In this way the Dutch gardeners produce 

 cabbage-lettuce during the whole winter till April, when they are succeeded 

 by the plants which have been early forced. In the Royal gardens in 

 Denmark, this method was practised by M. Lindegaard for nearly half 

 a century ; by Mi\ Rutger, at Longleat, for thirty years : for an equal 

 period at Bulstrode, when that place was the residence of the Duke of 

 Portland; and for a number of years at Hylands, when that property 



