A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at SchoolBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Home economics
_To prepare Soil for Pot-plants_, take one fourth part of common soil,
one fourth part of well-decayed manure, and one half of vegetable mould,
from the woods, or from a chip-yard. Break up the manure, fine, 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._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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