nches 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. For seeds as large as sweet peas, it should
be half an inch deep. The smallest seeds must be planted very near the
surface, and a very little fine earth be sifted over them. Seeds are to
be planted either deeper or nearer the surface, according to their size.
After covering them with soil, beat them down with a trowel, so as to
make the earth as compact as it is after a heavy shower. Set up a stick,
in the middle of the circle, with the name of the plant heavily written
upon it, with a dark lead pencil. This remains more permanent, if white
lead be first rubbed over the surface. Never plant, when the soil is
very wet. In very dry times, water the seeds at night. Never use very
cold water. When the seeds are small, many should be planted together,
that they may assist each other in breaking the soil. When the plants
are an inch high, thin them out, leaving only one or two, if the plant
be a large one, like the Balsam; five or six, when it is of a medium
siz