The Garden Under Glass

FORCING VEGETABLES 195 bed is to thrust a stick deeply in the centre of the bed. After a few days the heat may be known by drawing the stick out. When comfortably warm, the hotbed may be used. Soil should be spread over the top of the bed, the amount required being regulated by the use to which the bed is to be put. If intended for carrots, lettuces, radishes and such like, six inches should be the depth. It may be remarked that after the hotbed has been ex-hausted the material will still be useful for working into the land, especially if the land be heavy. In faet, it is the best way of making use of stable manure. The manure is brought from the stables, the droppings are shaken out, to be formed into a mushroom bed ; the long straw is mixed with leaves to form a hotbed, which will eventually be returned to the land ; and after the mushroom bed is exhausted the manure is still very useful. Thus a double use is made of the manure, with very little of its virtue gone. Where plenty of leaves are available it is a wise plan to form them into a large heap and cover them with a frame or to set them in a hole and put a frame over. In this way a heat will be given to the frame, the leaves will decay, and in the following year they will be drier than those stacked in the open. Asparagus.—This agreeable vegetable may very easily be forced on a hotbed made as described above. Good roots from an established bed should be dug up and placed over a few inches of soil on the hotbed. A slight covering of soil should be given, and a good watering. The frame will need to be covered at nights when there is likely to be frost. In well-appointed gardens it is customary to force plants from the oldest bed and to make a new bed each year.