A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

and sift it through a lime-screen, (or coarse wire sieve.) These materials must be thoroughly mixed. When the common soil which is used, is adhesive, and, indeed, in most other cases, it is necessary to add sand, the proportion of which, must depend on the nature of the soil. _On the Preparation of a Hot Bed._ Dig a pit, six feet long, five feet wide, and thirty inches deep. Make a frame, of the same size, with the back two feet high, the front fifteen inches, and the sides sloped from the back to the front. Make two sashes, each three feet by five, with the panes of glass lapping like shingles, instead of having cross bars. Set the frame over the pit, which should then be filled with fresh horse-dung, which has not lain long, nor been sodden by water. Tread it down, hard, then put into the frame, light, and very rich soil, ten or twelve inches deep, and cover it with the sashes, for two or three days. Then stir the soil, and sow the seeds in shallow drills, placing sticks by them, to mark the different kinds. Keep the frame covered with the glass, whenever it is cold enough to chill the plants; but at all other times, admit fresh air, which is indispensable to their health. When the sun is quite warm, raise the glasses, enough to admit air, and cover them with matting or blankets, or else the sun may kill the young plants. Water the bed at evening, with water which has stood all day, or, if it be fresh drawn, add a little warm water. If there be too much heat in the bed, so as to scorch or wither the plants, make deep holes, with stakes, and fill them up when the heat is reduced. In very cold nights, cover the box with straw. _On Planting Flower Seeds._ Break up the soil, till it is very soft, and free from lumps. Rub that nearest the surface, between the hands, to make it fine. Make a circular drill, a foot in diameter.