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again. The glaffes of the hot-bed Ihould be well co- 
vered with mats every night, to keep the bed in a 
proper temperature of heat, and great care muft be 
taken to admit frefh air every day to the plants •, but 
this fhould be done with caution, fo as to guard 
againft the cold winds which ufually blow at that 
feafon; fo that a mat or canvafs -fhould be hung over 
the opening made by railing of the glafles, to pre- 
vent the cold air from rufhing in too violently, and 
the glaffes fhould always be raifed on that fide which 
is contrary to the wind. The plants will alfo require 
to be frequently watered, but it muft be cauticufly 
given them at this leafon, and the water fhould not 
be cold, but either placed in a ftove, or put into a 
warm heap of dung, to take off the chill from it be- 
fore it is ufed. 
If the weather fnould prove bad, and the heat of 
the bed decline, there fhould be fome hot dung laid 
round the fides of the bed to renew the heat, which 
muft not be buffered to fail j for as the plants have 
been tenderly brought up, they muft not buffer from 
cold, for that will foon deftroy them. 
In this bed the plants may remain about three weeks 
or a month, in which time, if they have been pro- 
perly managed, they will have obtained fufficient 
ftrength to put out for good; therefore a proper 
quantity of dung fhould have been mixed and turned 
ready for making of the beds. The ufual quantity 
allowed for making of the beds at this feafon, is one 
good cart load to each light : this fhould be well 
mixed and turned over in the manner before directed ; 
then a trench fhould be dug in the ground the length 
and width of the intended bed, into which the dung 
fhould be wheeled, and properly worked according 
to the above directions, and fome old dung or neats 
dung fpread over the top. The frames and glaffes 
fhould then be put on the bed, which fnould be 
rri f J to let the fleam of the dung pals off, 
m about three days the bed will be in a proper 
temperature or heat to receive the plants ; at which 
time the dung fhould be covered over with dry earth 
about four inches thick, and in the middle of the bed 
it fhould be three or four inches thicker ; this fhould be 
laid upon the dung at leaft twenty-four hours before 
the plants are removed into the bed, that the earth may 
be properly warmed ; then the plants fhould be care- 
fully fhaken out of the pots, preferring all the earth to 
their roots, and placed on the top of the earth in the 
middle of the bed. Two, or at moft, three of thefe 
plants will be fufficient for each light, and thefe 
ihould be placed at about feven or eight inches afun- 
der, not all the roots together, as is too often prac- 
tifed. When the plants are thus fituated in the bed, 
the earth which was laid fo much thicker in the mid- 
dle of the bed, fhould be drawn up round the ball 
which remained to the roots of the plants, into which 
their roots will foon ftrike; there fhould always be a 
magazine of good earth laid under cover to keep it 
dry, for the earthing of thefe beds ; for if it is taken 
up wet, it will d ' 1 the beds, and alfo occafion great 
damps therein, t refore it is quite neceffary to have 
a fufficient quar ty of earth prepared long before it 
is ufed. Wher he plants are thus fettled, they muft 
have proper air nd water, according as they may re- 
quire, being refill not to admit too much cold air, 
or give too rr. :h water ; the glaffes fhould alfo be 
well covered ’ ith mats every night, to keep up the 
warmth of the tied, and fome frefh earth fnould be 
put into the h 1 at different times, which fhould be 
laid at fome c ance from the roots of the plants till 
it is warmed, id then fhould be drawn up round the 
heap of the ea: h in which the plants grow, to increafe 
the "depth ; th fhould be railed to the full height of 
the former b' , that the roots of the plants may more 
eafily ftrike to it : by this method of fupplying the 
earth, the mole furface of the beds will be covered 
nine or tei aches with earth, which will be of great 
fervice to e roots of the plants ; for where the earth 
is very fh flow, the leaves of the plants will always 
I mg in t! . heat of the day, unlefs they are {haded. 
cue 
and the plants will require more water to keep then! 
alive, than is proper to give them ; therefore it will 
be found much the better way to allow a proper depth 
of earth to the beds : but the reafon of not laying the 
quantity of earth on the bed when it is firft made, is, 
that the dung fhould not be too much chilled by it, 
or that the earth may not be burned, which might be 
endangered thereby, were the whole thicknefsto belaid 
on at once ; befides, by thus gradually applying the 
earth, it will be frefh, and much better for the roots 
of the plants, than that which has been long upon 
the bed, and has been too much moiftened by the 
{team arifing from the dung. 
If the heat of the bed fhould decline, there fhould 
be fome hot dung laid round the fide of the bed to 
renew the Heat ; for if that fhould fail at the time 
when the fruit appears, they will fall off and perifti, 
therefore this muft be carefully regarded ; and when 
the plants have put out fide branches (which the gar- 
deners call runners) they ihould be properly placed, 
and pegged down with fmali forked (ticks to prevent 
their riling lip to the glafles, and alfo from crofting 
and entangling with each other *, fo that when they are 
properly directed at firft, there will be no neceffity of 
twilling and tumbling the plants afterward, which is 
always hurtful to them. 
When the earth of the bed is laid the full thicknefs, 
it will be neceffary to raife the frames, otherwife the 
glaffes will be too dole to the plants ; but when this 
is done, there muft be care taken to flop the earth 
very clofe round the fide of the frame, to prevent 
the cold air from entering under them. The water- 
ing the plants, and admitting frefh air to them, muft 
be diligently attended to, otherwife the plants will 
be foon deftroyed ; for a little neglect either of ad- 
mitting air, or letting in too much, or by over water- 
ing, or ftarving the plants, will very foon deftroy 
them paft recovery. 
When the fruit appears upon the plants, there will 
alfo appear many male flowers on different parts of 
the plant ; thefe may at firft fight be diftinguifhed, 
for the female flowers have the young fruit fituated 
under the flowers, but the male have none ; but thefe 
have three ftamina in their center with their fummits, 
which are loaded with a golden powder. This is de- 
flgned to impregnate the female flowers, and when 
the plants are fully expofed to the open air, the foft 
breezes of wind convey this farina or male powder 
from the male to the female flowers ; but in the 
frames where the air is frequently too much excluded 
at this feafon, the fruit often drops off for want of 
it ; and I have often obferved, that bees that have 
crept into the frames when the glaffes have been 
raifed to admit the air, have fupplied the want of thofe 
gentle breezes of wind, by carrying the farina of the 
male flowers on their hind legs into the female flow- 
ers, where a fufficient quantity of it has been left to 
impregnate them. For as the bees make their wax 
of the farina or male powder of flowers, they fearch 
all the flowers indifferently to find it ; and I have ob- 
ferved them come out of fome flowers with their hind 
legs loaded with it, and going immediately into other 
flowers which have none, they have fcattered a fuffi- 
cient quantity of this farina about the ftyle of the fe- 
male flowers, to impregnate and render them prolific. 
Thefe infefts have taught the gardeners a method to 
fupply the want of free air, which is fo neceffary for 
the performance of this in the natural way. This is 
done by carefully gathering the male flowers, at the 
time when this farina is fully formed, and carrying 
them to the female flowers, turning them down over 
them, and with the nail of one finger, gently link- 
ing the outfide of the male, fo as to caufe the powder 
on the fummits to fcatter into the female flowers, and 
this is found to be fufficient to impregnate them ; fo 
that by practifing this method, the gardeners have 
now arrived at a much greater certainty than former- 
ly, to procure an early crop of. Cucumbers and Me- 
lons ; and by this method the florifts have arriyed to 
greater certainty of procuring new varieties of flowers 
from 
