August 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
other houses. When properly attended to, plants 
will grow there with a luxuriance to be gained no¬ 
where else. The making of such beds is a great 
thing with young beginners : many disappointments 
occur from not attending to a few simple matters. 
The most experienced are sometimes outwitted, be¬ 
cause practice leads to too bold a confidence. The 
oldest farmers have been twitted with the question 
this season, as to what they had lost since they had 
cut their hay-ricks ? Questions as provocative might 
be put to the blue-aproned fraternity when scudding 
along in a cold morning, with a hat-box under their 
arm, to obtain plants from a fortunate neighbour to 
replace those they had lost. Even at the distance 
of many years I can perfectly see a jolly rubicund 
face stretched out of a window as I passed on a 
similar errand, while the exclamation bounded in 
my ears and brought the warm blood into my cheeks, 
“Wliat! steamed out, eh!” Well, this steam must 
be avoided by one of three ways: first, by turning 
your fermenting matter, such as dung and leaves, 
until it is perfectly sweet, that is, until all the sul¬ 
phuretted hydrogen has gone ; secondly, by covering 
your bed, either in pit or frame, with such a thickness 
of earth, or of manure nearly decomposed, that the 
heat will rise through it, and the deleterious steam 
be absorbed in its passage, so as not to reach the 
enclosed atmosphere; and thirdly, by having a bottom 
of slate in your pit, with a flue of slate or galvanised 
iron all round, so that, the fermenting matter being 
thrown underneath, the heat will rise through the 
bottom and all round the sides without the possibility 
of steam. By the last, no previous working of the ma¬ 
nure will be necessary, but you merely obtain heat; 
by the first, there is more trouble but more satisfaction, 
as the plants are not only supplied with heat, but with 
the results of the slow decomposition of organised 
material. The second, when once you have gained a 
little experience, you will find for all, and especially 
for temporary purposes, the most economical for time, 
labour, and material. The turning of such a bed when 
the heat declines, and the addition of a few harrowfuls 
of hot fermenting materia] at the bottom, will have 
more effect than surrounding it with cart-loads in 
the shape of lining. “ But how shall I know whether 
the atmosphere of my bed is sweet or not?” Lift up 
the light that covers it; if the drops of water con¬ 
densed upon its bars are tinged with yellow or brown, 
trust the bed with nothing. If the drops are clear 
as the dew, put in it what you will, but even then 
leave a little air at the top, to be doubly safe. But 
how make or build the bed? We have rather put 
the cart before the horse, and we cannot now give 
minutiae, but just revolve in your mind the two follow¬ 
ing questions, and you will soon be beyond the reach 
of our instructions. What causes the heat in your 
heap of manure? Fermentation or decomposition. 
What ensures that decomposition? Warmth, water, 
air. Oxygen is not merely the life preserver, it is 
also the life destroyer, and the vulture that then 
gorges on its remains. Decompose your bed too much, 
and there will be nothing left for the oxygen of the 
air to burn, and coldness will ensue ; build your bed 
too close or deep, and, as the air cannot penetrate, 
fermentation and heat will be arrested; build it 
lightly of dryish material, and heat will also fail, 
because the air without moisture cannot carry on the 
decomposing process. Ponder these facts, and you 
will soon be able to make a bed that will retain for a 
long period its heating properties, by consolidating 
what is light, and lightening by means of bushwood, 
&c., what is dense; by working, in short, not merely 
245 
according to rule, but by suiting your operations to 
your circumstances. Robert Fish. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Asparagus. —Attend to the instructions given in 
our last number, and keep the beds well cleared from 
weeds. 
Cabbages and Cauliflowers. —Do not negleet the 
last sowings of cabbages, so that an abundance of 
plants may be secured, ready for pricking out thickly 
on sloping banks, to stand through the winter. About 
the middle of this month another sowing of cauli- 
Jioivcr may still be made. To afford a good supply for 
winter consumption, continue to plant out a suc¬ 
cession, so that plenty of plants may be coming on 
in readiness for taking up throughout the months of 
October and November, to be stored away thickly to¬ 
gether in temporarily made pits of turf, fern, heath, 
or furze, or to be hung up by their roots and stems, 
tied up in bunches, in temporary sheds : these sheds 
may very soon be knocked up by any handy labourer, 
either as a lean-to or span-roofed structure. We save 
all our asparagus-stalks, artichoke-stems, bean-stalks, 
and pea-haulm, and also procure furze, heath, fern, 
evergreen prunings, and, indeed, all kinds of refuse, 
in order to form these temporary pits, sheds, and 
shelters, when needed; they are also excellent places 
for storing the good healthy soils for cucumbers, me¬ 
lons, early carrots, and turnips, as well as for all kinds 
of potting purposes. 
Celery. —Attend to the directions given last week, 
and earth up carefully such as may be ready for the 
operation, but do not be in too much haste about ap¬ 
plying the earth; and, we must repeat, take care also 
not to smother or injure the heart of the celery by 
applying too large a quantity. 
Routine Work. — Endive should be again sewn, 
and a succession of the earlier plants put out on 
borders, sloping banks, ot quarters. Sow also, on a 
liberal scale, about the middle of the month, the best 
kinds of lettuce, such as the Egyptian brown cos, the 
Bath, and the Hammersmith hardy cabbage lettuce, for 
winter use. Onions should now be sown to stand the 
winter, which almost any variety will do if sown on 
a dry healthy spot: they should be sown pretty 
thickly. About the 12th instant is a good time for 
sowing full crops of the Flanders or prickly kinds of 
spinach: the soil should be well prepared, in a shel¬ 
tered dry situation or a warm border, by the applica¬ 
tion of a good dressing of manure, and the seed 
should be sown in drills from one foot to eighteen 
inches apart. Collect materials together for making 
mushroom beds in succession; and, as the nights arc 
now getting longer, and will soon become cold, a slight 
addition should be made to the linings of cucumber 
and melon pits and frames, by topping up with litter 
or short grass-mowings, &c. James Barnes. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
MY FLOWERS. 
(No. 38.) 
Bright, and warm, and beautiul, as is the month 
of August—rich and glowing as are its fiowers—we 
always feel that it is now autumn, and there is some¬ 
thing that saddens us in that thought, bummer is so 
delightful to mind and body, the out-of-door lite we 
lead is so agreeable, and the length of days so cheerful 
