so 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
As a matter of course, it -will not pay to sow small seeds on 
lumpy ground; the surface must be well broken and brought 
to a somewhat powdery condition before the drills are drawn. 
With large seeds such as peas and beans this is of less conse- 
quence, but these require the ground to be well prepared, or 
many of them will miss and make ugly gaps in the rows. 
Broadcasting of seed is not to be thought of by a gardener. 
The advantage of drilling is too great to allow of such a hap- 
hazard system. When the plant is in drills, it can be thinned, 
cleaned, and watered with a minimum of labour, and it has a 
tidy appearance. A compromise between the machine and the 
inexperienced fingers may be effected by means of a wooden 
rake with teeth placed at a suitable distance apart. Draw the 
rake lengthways of the bed, then across, and put in a few seeds 
at each square ; or draw lengthways only and sow two drills 
at a time from the alley, taking care to drop as few seeds as 
possible at a proper distance apart. 
To make a Hotbed is easy enough, but to manage one to 
the greatest advantage requires some amount of skill and 
experience. It is almost useless to begin with a small quantity 
of stuff, unless the bed is required merely to start a few seeds 
or strike a few cuttings. For whatever, except the most trivial, 
purpose it may be required, we must have suitable frames and 
lights, or good brick pits and a large bulk of long manure 
that has not been fermented at all, or has only been once fer- 
mented in the heap made in the first removal from the stable. 
It should contain plenty of fibre, and therefore, if already 
short and somewhat rotted down, mix with it a good body of 
waste straw, hay, turf, or any such rough vegetable fibre. It 
must be moist enough, but not wet; if dry and chippy it must 
be sprinkled with water when turned with the fork to induce a 
steady fermentation throughout the whole of the mass. We 
will suppose we are going to make a bed for a three-light frame 
to grow melons or cucumbers. We begin with six to twelve 
one-horse loads of stable manure in which there is plenty of 
straw visible. As a rule eight loads will be required. This is 
carted on to the ground and turned into a long low heap, being 
spriukled, if dry, layer by layer. In the course of a few days 
it will heat tremendously. It is now turned again, and if still 
rather dry and flaky is again sprinkled. In the course of a 
week it is likely to be in prime condition for making up the 
bed. The ground is, of course, marked out to suit the frames. 
