1807.] 
AMPHIICIAN AGRIC^UI/rUllIST. 
63 
Profits from Small Places. 
In January, we alhulctl to some of the methods 
by wliich, in thickly peopled districts, and in 
towns and villages, small tracts of land might be 
rendered profitable. The raising for sale of such 
pl.anls as are usually transplanted, w.as hinted 
at as a considerable source of profit. Tomatoes, 
egg plants, peppers, early cabbages, caulillow- 
ers, cucumbers aud melons, will usu¬ 
ally meet with a ready sale, ifprotluced 
under glass a little earlier than they 
can be raised in the open ground; 
while late cabbages, celery, asparagus 
roots, etc., may be raised without the 
use of glass. Let one make a business 
of supplying gooil plants and be will 
soon find that the m.ajority of his neigh¬ 
bors will prefer to buy plants to rais¬ 
ing them. Then, there are always a 
certain number of people who forgot to 
sow at the proi>er time, or who had 
“ bad luck” with their seeds, who would 
bo glad to make up for their neglect 
by purchase. The earliest plants are 
raised in hot-beds, but these arc not 
absolutely necessary, as cold frames are 
more easily managed, and will bring 
ft)rward many things sufTlcicutly early. 
For hot-beds or cold frames, sashes will 
be required in number according to 
the extent of the operations. The usual 
size is 8 X G feet, but any other size may 
be made to answer. Beginners had 
belter try a mild hot-bed, with a gentle 
heat to start the seeds. Choose a shel¬ 
tered place, facing the south, fix on the 
size of the bed for the number of sashes 
to be used, and make an excavation 
about two feet deep. Then drive down 
»itakes and board up the sides of the 
pit, allowing the boards at the front to 
come 13 inches above the surface, while 
those at the rear are 18 inches above. 
Put cross-pieces 3 inches wide from 
front to rear, as far apart as the sashes 
require ; in the center of each cross- 
piec<\ nail a strip an inch square, run¬ 
ning the whole length ; this will serve 
as a guide for the sash to run against. 
Fill the trench with fermenting manure 
that has previously been turned over several 
times, throwing it in gradually and beating it 
down firmly with the fork; cover it with 6 inches 
of good light soil, and put on the sashes. The bed 
will soon liecome very hot, and when the ther¬ 
mometer shows that the heat is declining below 
100®, the seeds may be sown. Plants from warm 
countries, such as tomatoes, egg plants and pep¬ 
pers, need the hot-bed more than do cabbages, 
etc. The plants, as soon as up, require air during 
the middle of the day, and to bo covered at 
night. Cold frames are far preferable for those 
who have had no experience with plants under 
glass. A frame like the above is used, but no 
excavation is needed. It is put over well pie- 
pared, light, rich soil, and the sashes kept on 
during the day; shutfers or mats are put oyer 
them at night, and when the soil, from receiving 
heat by day and being prevented from giving it 
off at night, has become well w'arracd, the seeds 
may be sown. After the plants arc up, the beds 
will need daily care. GijVe air, by tilting the 
sash, or removing it altogether, according to the 
weather. Close the sash early in the afternoon, 
before the soil begins to cool, and cover the 
glass at night to retain the heat. Plants m 
ft-ames will' need thinning, weeding and water¬ 
ing. "Watoring should not be done with cold J 
water, but it should always be brought to the 
temperature of the earth in the frames. Where 
means will allow, it is belter to have extra 
frames into which the plants may be transplant¬ 
ed W'hen large enough, in order to give them 
room. Tomatoes in particular, are benefited 
by this treatment. Whenever the weather will 
allow, keep the glass off altogether, except at 
Cucumbers and melons may bo planted 
night. 
on inverted sods cut into pieces 8 inches square, 
and the plants be raised to a size that w'ill ren¬ 
der them safe from the attacks of insects when 
they are put out. By the use of cold frames, 
plants may be had ready for sale two or three 
weeks earlier than if the seeds were sown in the 
open ground. The chief precautions are, to 
avoid burning the plants by keeping the sashes 
closed during the day, and to avoid chilling 
them by delaying the covering too late at night. 
The end of February is quite early enough to 
make hot-beds in the latitude of New York, and 
cold frames may be started in March. There 
are other things that may be profitably raised 
by the occupants of village and town lots that 
will be noticed another mouth. 
A Noble Pear—The Beurre Clairgeaa. 
In a note on pears in January, it was re¬ 
marked that the most popular fruits were not 
those that had the highest rank with the pomol- 
O'dst. The Beurr6 Clairgeau is one of those 
pears that, without ranking as “ best," has so 
many good qualities that when it becomes bet¬ 
ter known, it will doubtless hold a high place 
in popular estimation. Like many other valuable 
fruits,this was a ehance seedling, found at Nantes, 
Fiance, about 1839, by Pierre Clairgeau, a gar¬ 
dener, by whose name the fruit is now known. 
The tree is a handsome one, a good grower 
and a remarkably abundant bearer. It does not 
grow -well upon Quince Stock, though there are 
reports of its success tvhen double worked. 
Tiie fruit is of large size, and what is an impor¬ 
tant qualit}’-, hangs well upon the tree. The 
form of tlie fruit is shown in the engraving, 
from which will he seen the peculiar 
insertion of the stem, which is very 
short in proportion to tlie size of the 
fruit, aud the somewhat-curved form of 
the pear. The skin is yellow, with 
green and brown dots, and upon the 
sunny side it is washed ■witli Vermil¬ 
lion ; some specimens are more or less 
russeted. When well ripened and col¬ 
ored, no pear can make a finer show. 
The flesh is very wliite, fine, juicy, and 
melting, vinous, and with a delicate 
perfume. Pomologists differ in their 
views as to quality; wliile those of 
France consider it of first qualitt", it 
does not rank with us as more tlian 
second rate. The fruit is generally 
above the medium size, and some very 
large specimens liave been grown. One 
received a prize at the Horticultural 
Society of Paris, that weiglied one kilo¬ 
gramme—or about two and a quarter 
pounds. Tlie fruit ripens in October, 
and will, witli care, keep into December. 
The size and great beauty of this va¬ 
riety make it a valuable market fruit, 
while the excellent qualities of the 
tree commend it to tlie planter. 
Straw Covers for Hot-Beds and 
Cold Frames. 
Some covering for tlie sashes of a 
hot-bed* or cold frame is absblutely 
necessary to prevent tlie loss of beat 
by radiation at night. Shutters, made 
of light boards, aud straw mats are 
most generally used. We have before 
described the manner of making straw 
mats, which are on many accounts the 
most convenient covering. Wc liave 
used straw covers, or frames filled witli 
straw, with mucli satisfaction, and tliough they 
are less conveniently stored away than are the 
mats, they are made with greater rapidity. 
For the frames, take tliree pieces of inch-board 
3 inches wide, and as long as tlie sasli; lay down 
two of these as far apart as tlie width of the 
sash, and the otlier one midway between the two; 
cross pieces, of lialf-incli stuff, 3 inches wide, 
are nailed on at each end, and similar pieces are 
nailed on between the end pieces at distances of 
a foot. Now turn the frame over aud fill it 
with straight straw regularly laid in, and nail a 
cross piece over the straw at eacli end. The sti a w 
is to be further secured by a tarred string over 
it, opposite‘the cross pieces, on tlie other side, 
fastening each piece of string securely by tacks 
or small nails. Sometimes the frames are mac e 
with wooden cross pieces above, insteacl of tlie 
strings, but this renders the frame heavier, am 
does not allow the water to imn off so reach i . 
Frames of this kind, when not m use, should 
he put under cover-taking care that they be 
thoroughly dried before they are put awaj 
The covering and uncovering the beds is best 
done by two peso,«, as then f„e straw frapies 
mar be lilted; sbovtas 
off Uie sasbes; Ibis maybe avoided by M.1- 
.w X upod the sashe, to slide epoe. 
