THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jb 
tamed without farther trouble.” By pairing them in 
this way, they are soon made to act together, usually 
without those refractory symptoms that frequently show 
themselves in steers under training. 
Work for the Month. 
Comparatively little can be done in the fields at this 
season of the year, but the good farmer will find March 
any thing but an idle month. He will find it perhaps 
the most critical month in the year for his cattle and 
sheep, and that additional care will be required as the 
season advances, termed by farmers between hay and 
grass. Instead of lessening the quantity of feed his 
animals receive, he will increase it, and bring to his aid 
the roots he may have on hand. Where the straw and 
hay fed out are very dry, sprinkling brine over them 
will cause the animals to eat such food more freely. 
The weak animals should receive particular care, as 
should also cows, and ewes. 
March is a good month to examine your orchards, to 
to free them from moss and loose bark, and thus ex¬ 
pose to destruction the multitude of insects that harbor 
in these places. Orchards do not receive the attention 
they deserve, from most farmers. Since the worth of 
the apple for animals has been ascertained, it is found 
that orchards are not the least productive part of the 
farm, even where none are used for cider. 
Do not believe those who tell you that green wood 
makes the hottest fire, and is cheaper to burn than dry. 
A man who preaches such a doctrine usually gets his 
wood a jag at a time, has a smoking fire, and a scolding 
wife; two evils of no little magnitude to a man who 
loves to stay within doors on rainy days. But the wo¬ 
man in this case, if in any, is excusable; for common sense 
should teach a farmer to have his wood cut and drawn 
during the winter, that the March winds may carry off 
the moisture, and fit it for packing in his wood house. 
The month of March is usually the one in which 
water courses require the most careful looking too, to 
prevent the change of their courses, the wash of plow¬ 
ed lands, or the covering of meadows with gravel and 
sand. Since draining has commenced in this country to 
some extent, those who have drains lately made and co¬ 
vered, should look to them, as surface water is apt, be¬ 
fore the earth is properly settled in them, to find its 
way, and if allowed to run long will most certainly 
render the drain useless, by injuring the channel for 
the water, or filling it up with earth. 
Sir Humphrey Davy observes, “ that manures from 
animal substances in general require no preparation to 
fit them for the soil.” Should you therefore be so un¬ 
fortunate as to lose any of your animals, do not cast 
them into the highway to offend every passer by, or in¬ 
to the brook to be worse than useless, but cut it up 
and mix it with earth in such a manner, that the decom¬ 
position will not be too rapid, and the particles fully 
blended with the earth. Thus there need be no loss 
without some small gain. One of the worst signs in 
passing a farm, is to see the apple or peach trees arounc 
the dwelling, hung over with dead lambs, &c. &c. It 
proves two things—first, that the man has not attendee 
to his creatures as he ought, through the winter; anc 
secondly, that he does not understand making the most 
of his ill luck, or profitting by his own negligence. 
A good supply of seeds should be procured, assortec 
and labelled, that no loss of time, or mistake in plant¬ 
ing, may occur. Attention to these small things will 
save much time and labor, and in a year the saving 
thus produced, amounts to a handsome sum. A farmer 
should always, as far as practicable, grow his own 
seeds, but where this cannot be, let him be eareful to 
purchase where good ones can be had, and the charac¬ 
ter of the dealer is a sufficient guaranty that no inferior 
ones will be offered. 
The spring of the year is the time in which the hardi¬ 
hood comparatively of different animals can be tested, 
when kept alike; and though it should form no part of 
the business of a good farmer to see on how little food 
he can keep or rather starve his animals; still hardi¬ 
hood, if combined with other good qualities, is a pro¬ 
perty that will not be overlooked in the selection of 
stock. Some animals will keep in good condition on the 
same food, that would barely keep others from starva¬ 
tion. March usually shows which are, and which are 
not such animals. 
There are few fences in our country that do not re¬ 
quire more or less repairs in the spring of the year. 
The common rail fence will be lifted or shoved from 
its proper place by the frost, and must be replaced ; the 
winds of the winter will displace and throw down 
the boards or rails used, and these must be return¬ 
ed and secured; stone walls are the best of fences, but 
even these must be looked to, or the. frost will in 
time play the mischief with them, giving them that 
“ slantendicular” position, which is any thing but hand¬ 
some or safe. 
Where circumstances prevent meadows from being 
plowed, and dressing with manures is necessary, if it 
has not been done in the fall it may be done now, only 
more will be required. In dressing meadows, composts 
are better than other manures; and none that is not 
thoroughly rotted should be ever applied in the spring. 
Long manures so applied rise with the grass, prevent 
good mowing, and render raking difficult. 
March is a good month for putting agricultural imple¬ 
ments in order, and this is a point of the utmost impor¬ 
tance in good husbandry. It is idle to expect good 
farming without tools capable of giving such a re¬ 
sult; and when obtained they must be kept in order 
and preserved, or certain loss will ensue. Borrowing 
agricultural implements is a practice far too common, 
and one more honored in the breach than in the obser¬ 
vance. Besides the man who borrows much, spends 
more time in going after and returning them, than it 
would take to make or purchase them, and the farmer 
who has a proper feeling of independence, which a 
farmer should have, will give him more pleasure in 
using his own implements than those of his neighbor. 
The Garden—Hot-Beds. 
Within a few years, since horticulture has begun to 
take its proper place, not only as a science but as a part 
of the business of every farmer, (although it is yet very 
far from being fully appreciated,) hot-beds have been 
introduced as the best means, not only of furnishing a 
supply of early vegetables for the table, but also of 
starting such as it is desirable to have planted out as 
early as is consistent with safety from our late spring 
frosts. Of this class are cabbages, tomatoes, and in¬ 
deed if well managed, and not brought forward so early 
as to require planting out before the temperature of the 
earth and air is fit for the purpose, almost every vegeta¬ 
ble usually grown in the garden. Independent of the 
value that may be attached to the hot-bed as forward¬ 
ing vegetables for the table, the manure used for the 
bed when mixed with the earth that is always put upon 
it, forms an excellent and thoroughly rotted manure or 
compost for the garden, free from weeds and insects, 
the seeds and eggs of which have been destroyed by 
the process of fermentation and heating, the mass is 
obliged to undergo. It will be remembered that we 
are not now writing for the scientific gardener or horti¬ 
culturist, but for the farmer; and in describing a hot-bed 
it must be one, both in its cost and construction, within 
the reaoh of limited skill and means. We, therefore, 
gladly avail ourselves of the following drawings and 
descriptions furnished by a friend, of one erected by 
himself, and which we know answered every end ex¬ 
pected from such constructions. 
“ Messrs. Editors —The size of the hot-bed must 
of course be determined by the number and size of the 
sash to be used in covering it, or by the quantity of ear¬ 
ly vegetables which it is desirable to grow in it. It 
may be made with three or five sashes, and of any de¬ 
sired width ; but as a general rule it should not be wider 
than will admit of easily reaching the middle of the 
bed from the sides when the sash is removed. I made 
me one last year of three sashes which answered an 
excellent purpose, and which in some respects differed 
from any I have elsewhere seen. The expense, exclusive 
of the sash, was a mere trifle, and I think every farmer 
who constructs one, should it (succeed as well as die 
mine, will, the first year of its use, feel himself well 
rewarded for his pains. 
The glass that I used was the common seven by nine, 
and the sash, from outside to outside, was four and a 
half feet by three feet. There are no cross bars to 
the sash, as in window sash, but the glass is laid in the 
sash lapping on each other about half an inch in the 
manner of shingles, that the rain may run over their 
sloping surface readily. The bars of the sash should 
be made at least one and a half inch, and if three inches 
they will be none the worse, as a greater length and of 
course capacity will be given the bed, at a slight addi¬ 
tion of expense. By making my sash wider than com¬ 
mon, I thus gained nearly two feet in length of my hot¬ 
bed, a space sufficient to grow lettuce or radishes 
enough for a small family, and the sash is besides 
stronger and better every way. The sash received six 
panes of glass in length. 
My hot-bed receptacle or frame, I made as follows: 
I constructed a box of boards, three feet high in front 
or the side facing the south, and three feet ten inches 
on the back or northern sides. Pieces of scantling, 
placed in the corners, served to nail the boards upon, 
and flat stones or blocks were placed under the corners 
for it to rest on. On the top of this box four narrow 
strips of boards, about eight feet in length, were nailed 
one at each end, and the other two at equal distances 
for the sashes to lie or slide upon. These pieces had 
the same angle of inclination as the top of the box, and 
projecting back some four feet, the ends rested on scant¬ 
ling well set in the ground, thus supporting the sash 
when thrown back, as will be sometimes necessary to 
avoid too great heat, or to air and water the plants. I 
had so often seen the glass of hot-beds shivered, when 
the sash was merely laid on without proper security, 
that I adopted this course which has proved entirely 
successful. To make a place for this sash to slide, on 
the top of the first narrow board I nailed another, a 
trifle thicker than the sash, but still narrower than the 
first board: and on this, but of the width of the under 
piece, was placed a thin board, thus making a slide for 
the sash, but from which it could not be removed ex- 
cept at the upper or lower extremity. On the upper 
sides of each sash, at each end, I screwed a piece of 
leather doubled into a loop which greatly facilitated 
sliding, or removing them when necessary. When com¬ 
pleted, the box was about ten feet in length by five feet 
in width. 
For making a hot-bed, horse stable manure is gene¬ 
rally preferred, as it ferments more equally than any 
other, and of course retains its heating properties long¬ 
er. Other stable manure will do, however, when horse 
manure can not conveniently be had. In making the 
bed, care must be taken to pack the manure as equally 
in every part as possible, as, if thrown in carelessly, it 
will ferment and settle unequally, cracking the earth, 
and in a great degree destroying the value of the bed. 
It is customary, after piling the manure, to let it remain 
some days before the earth is put upon it; it is sup¬ 
posed that thus a quicker fermentation is produced; 
I, however, put in my manure and covered it with rich 
garden mould the same day, which was about the four¬ 
teenth of March. When put in, the manure and earth 
was within eight or ten inches of the top of the box; 
the depth of earth put in might average ten inches. 
The mass however settled so considerably before fer¬ 
mentation ceased, that I shall this year leave less space 
between the earth and the glass, since it is well known 
that the less this space the greater the heat produced 
by the sun, and experience has proved that the settling 
of the earth in this case will usually be sufficient to 
prevent any contact between the plants and the glass, 
which they ought not to reach. In eight days after 
making my bed, I planted it with such seeds as I Avish- 
ed for early use, or for transplanting; but except the to- 
matoes and cabbages, I gained nothing by starting my 
plants, intended for removal, so soon, since the melons, 
cucumbers, peppers, &c. grew so fast, and became so 
large, that when the proper season for transplanting 
came, removal Avas fatal to most of them. 
In planting a hot-bed with such things as are to be re¬ 
moved, it is a good plan to take pieces of clean turf, 
some four or five inches square, and putting these in 
the bed the grass side doAvn, place the seeds on them 
and cover Avith fine mould to the depth of one and a 
half or two inches. The roots of the young plant 
spread in the turf Avhich partially decays, and if care¬ 
fully removed, and in season, the plant will feel but lit 
tie injury from the process. 
Much of the profit to be derived from a hot-bed is 
depending on having the seeds Avhen planted so arrang¬ 
ed, that the successive crops shall not interfere Avith one 
another, or those intended for removal Avith those that 
remain. Thus, where there is but a single hot-bed, the 
plants permanently groAvn in them are usually lettuces, 
radishes, and cucumbers. It takes but a feAV stalks of 
the cucumber to fill a hot bed, Avhen the vines begin to 
run, and these if planted in separate places will not in 
the least interfere with the first crops of lettuce or ra¬ 
dishes, and these but little, if the space is well ma¬ 
naged, with the plants intended for removal. Last year 
I used half of my bed for starting some cuttings of tie 
multicaulis; to make way for which I removed part of 
a luxuriant groAvth of radishes ; yet on this limited space 
I grew two crops of the finest iettuce, a large supply of 
radishes, and after the transplanting of the multicaulis, 
by allowing the cucumbers to spread, I had not only 
cucumbers in plenty early, but the vines continued to 
produce those of good quality till late in the season. 
To those who are fond of seeing early vegetables on 
their tables, a bed of this description is indispensable; 
and after a long deprivation of fresh articles of this 
kind, heads of lettuce as large as small cabbages, and 
radishes an inch in diameter, are not apt to be looked 
upon with displeasure by any one, be he farmer or 
otherwise. 
The annexed cut will give perhaps a sufficiently correct 
idea of the above described hot-bed, to enable any 
mechanic or farmer to construct one for himself. I 
have shoAvn it with one of the sashes thrown back, to 
illustrate the benefit of the slide. By means of the 
leather loops, the sashes are mov r ed with the greatest 
ease, and there is no danger of their falling or being 
blown off by the wind. 
[Fig. 20.] 
To manage a hot-bed requires some little attention ; 
the heat requires to be graduated to the plants, and 
while the fermentation is the most active, a few hours 
of sun on the glass will raise the temperature so much 
as to injure the plants. Ventilation by moving the 
sashes must be now resorted to, until the temperature 
is regulated. Particular attention must be paid to wa¬ 
tering the bed, as on the action of the two agents, heat 
and moisture, the forcing power depends. The earth 
used should be rich fine garden mould, and a quantity 
of it should be kept by the bed to use occasionally about 
