is backward, wooden
frames covered with cloth soaked in linseed oil may be placed over the
beds, which is far better than to cover with pine boughs or glass
even. The cloth soaked in oil draws the rays of the sun and keeps the
earth dry and warm, causing a rapid growth of the plants, which at
this stage need forcing in order to be forward enough for early
transplanting. A Virginia planter gives the following description of
making the

PLANT PATCH.

"Cut wood in September or October, so that it may season, to
burn patches (beds) in winter or spring. For ten acres, or
fifty thousand hills, burn and sow three patches each of
seventy-five square yards. Say one (if the land be in good
condition) the latter part of December, and if it be not in
condition then, burn one hundred and fifty square yards the
first good weather in January or February, and the other the
first of March. Select a place on some small constant
running stream, not liable to overflow, with a moist, sandy
soil; cut down all trees close to the ground; get off all
shrubbery, leaves, etc. The patch will then be ready for
wooding. Commence by laying on skids ten or twelve feet
long, four in diameter, three and a half feet apart; cover
thickly with brush, then put on wood regular all over, and
thick enough to burn dry an inch in depth. Commence your
fires on the side, and continue to move after it has burnt
hard enough. After it has burned, sweep off all coals, but
not the ashes: then it will be ready for hoeing up, which
can be done with good grub hoes; hoe deep, but do not turn
over the soil; get off all large and small roots; chop over
with hill hoes, and rake until the earth is thoroughly
pulverized; then put on twenty-five bushels of good, fine,
stable manure, without weed and grass seed, and twenty-five
pounds of Peruvian guano, which should be put on regularly,
hoed and raked in.

"For sowing, lay off beds four feet wide, so that the water
from rains may run or drain off. For every bed four feet
wide and twelve yards long, sow one chalk pipe bowl full of
seed, after being mixed with ashes; tread with the feet or
pat it over with weeding hoes, that it may be close and
smooth; cover it with dog-wood, maple, or any fine brush, to
the depth of twenty or twenty-four inches, to protect the