week or ten days, take off the boxes
and lights, in order to level it, and let it have from four to six
inches fall from the back to the front; in this, however, you must be in
some degree guided by the form of the boxes, which it is necessary
should have a good fall, that the plants may derive benefit from the
sun; then fork up the bed about a foot deep, and again place on the
boxes and lights, giving nearly two inches of air, both night and day.
In about four or five days it will be necessary to again fork it up, and
give it some water, in the proportion of two pots to a light. This must
be repeated every two or three days, until the bed is perfectly sweet,
which is usually the case in three or four weeks, applying water during
that time, according to the state of the bed.

When you find that the bed is properly purified, put in the sifted leaf
mould. A three-light box will require a large barrow-full; the quantity
for a one-light being about four shovels. After this, add to the
wrapping some sweet litter or hay, increasing it to nearly the top of
the boxes, and apply about two pots of water to each of the cavities,
taking care to fill them up to nearly the tops of the boxes, with short
sweet mulshy litter. This is a point but very little known, yet of the
greatest importance in the culture of cucumbers; for when the weather
begins to grow severe, if there is no cavity, and the boxes are placed
close together, in the usual manner, the outsides are very liable to
become damp, and the cold, penetrating through, is certain of doing the
plants material injury.

Put a pot of plants in the middle of a three-light box, and at night
admit nearly two inches of air, covering them with a single mat; and if
on the following day the plants look well, they may be safely ridged
out.

It is requisite that both the boxes and lights should be painted every
year, at least a month before they are wanted for use; but if this
cannot be conveniently done, be particular in washing them with boiling
water, in which some unslacked lime must be mixed. This will in some
measure answer the purpose of paint in effectually destroying the
vermin, or the eggs which may have been deposited in the crevices of the
wood.

After the plants are ridged out, wash them every morning, on the
outside, and about once a week in the inside, which will tend to reflect
the light, and cause them to thrive much better. When you wash the
outside, push them down ab