TREE ONION (J. B., & J. R.). Our correspondents wish to know where, and at what price, they can buy some bulbs of this. SEMI-TRANSPARENT CALICO (Several Old Subscribers).—You will find the recipe for making this at page 123 of Vol. ii., and is in its index. The mixture does as well for linen as for calico.

POULTRY DISEASED (C. C. Muster, and Un Lecteur).-Your fowls, troubled with a discharge from their nostrils, weakness of the eyes, and loss of appetite, are affected with the roup. Wash their nostrils thoroughly every morning with a little solution of chloride of lime; and give each a pellet as large as a horse-bean every morning, of the following mixture: gentian powder, and ginger powder, one ounce each; Epsom salts, one-ounce-and-a-half; sulphur, half-anounce; made into a paste with dripping.

WEIGELA ROSEA AND FORSYTHIA VIRIDISSIMA (J. H.).— Young plants of these, 15 inches high, and now breaking strongly from the bottom, should be cut down better than half their height, to render them compact and bushy.

AZALEAS (Ibid).-Young plants that have got drawn and straggling may be cut well back now to make them bushy, if you can give them a temperature of from 55° to 60° to cause them to break freely. First wait for a month, and then you may almost command the same heat in a cold pit, or frame, kept close.

CACTUS (W. H. R.).-Your young plant that has sent up three shoots from the bottom, had better be encouraged to grow as freely as possible during summer: placing it full in the sun. Four stems or leaves will not be too many for your plant.

HYDRANGEA (Ibid). The fewer shoots you retain the stronger they will be. If you can give it plenty of room, and rich soil, we should advise you to leave three out of the six, though one huge corymb of flowers at the top of a single shoot is very pretty.

VARIOUS QUERIES (Allan Dale).-In grafting fuchsias, it is as well if both stock and scion should be of the previous season's growth It matters not what method is adopted, provided the two inner barks are made to adhere; and the plant is kept close, and shad d for a time afterwards. Climbers.-The Ipomea Learii had been too tender for a pot in such a position; try Mandevilla suaveolens, or Passiflora cœrulea racemosa. For the back wall to be green in winter, and yellow in spring, the Acacia armata wou'd be beautiful. If climbers were desirable, the passiflora named, and P. Ballotii, and C Ivilli, and Mandevilla suaveolens. To cover it quickly, to be cut out as the others grow: Lophosperma scandens, Cohoea scandens, and Eccremocarpus scaber. As the Kenneyda coccinea does so well, you might place in it K. Maryattae. Lisianthus Russellianus will flower well in a cold greenhouse, but it must be raised and grown in a higher temperature. If you inquire, we think you will be able to get cyclamen seed. See what was said lately about it by Mr. Fish. Sow the seed whenever you can get it.

PRIMULA SINENSIS (B. C. Barton).-To have strong plants to flower from November, and through the winter, sow any time within a fortnight or a month, in a cucumber-bed; if no such place where heat can be given, sow under a glass in the greenhouse; prick out, when up; occasionally repot during the summer: keeping them in a cool shady place during the dog-days; and use soil, consisting of equal parts good loam and leaf-mould.

GLADIOLUS GANDAVENSIS (Tooting).—It will flower very well in the 5-inch pot, although its roots have come through the bottom. Give it water freely, so that the soil is never dry, and allow it plenty of air every day.

IXIA VIRIDIFLORA (Ibid).—The three bulbs of this having made thirteen shoots must have been in very good condition; no doubt but you will have six or seven spikes of bloom from them. See that they get plenty of air and water, as this sort grows tall and dislikes confinement The colour of this Ixia will please you much.

YELLOW GERANIUM (J. Bousfield).-Pray do not lose sight of it. The safest way, if it is a species, is to cultivate it at Natal, and save seeds, which may come in a letter. If it is a tuberous-rooted one, the tubers would come dry in brown paper in a box with bulbs, but let it not be trusted that way until seeds are first saved.

STATICE LATIFOLIA (A Subscriber).-It will transplant in September, and now also. It prefers a deep rich sandy soil. You can increase it now by pieces of the roots which issue from the collar of the plant.

REMOVING VINES (Hester S.).-It is too late now to remove your out-of-door vine; but if you must, the thing is not quite impossible, but requires great care. A west aspect would do for your vine in the southern counties, but you do not say where you reside.

BRANCHES OF APRICOTS DYING (Ibid).-This is a common complaint; and there is no cure for it but to train in some young wood to fill up the space. Your apricot, 50 feet wide, is a fine tree. Mistletoe seeds. Send a stamped envelope with your address immediately.

TROPEOLUM TUBEROSUM (Ibid).- We very much fear your tuber of this is dead, as the plant has not yet appeared, but we have known them refuse to start for a long time. Shake it out of the soil, and if it is sound, repot it, and keep it as warm as you can till you see it sprouting.

LIGHT FOR SEED BED (S. C., P. H.).—Shade is best for the annuals until the seeds vegetate, and then sunshine and plenty of air. For cuttings, shade them from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon, when the days are hot; but in general, the more sun they stand, the faster they will root, but it is safer for you to shade.

BROKEN CACTUS (J. T.).-Your cactus will do yet, though the main stem is broken. Cut the bottom of the main stem smooth, and also the stumps of the broken side branches, and put it in a small pot with sand only, placing it three inches deep, and it will soon form roots again. When you remove it to another pot, shake off most of the sand; the other pieces will also do for cuttings, and you may put them all in one pot, with sand, till they root. Give all a little water twice a week, and place them in a warm room. DOUBLE BLUE HEPATICA (J. N. P.).—This dwindles, though other kinds thrive with you. Your soil does not suit it. Can you not change it? It prefers deep, rich, light loam, and an open situation.

We would water it well in May and June. The maximum heat for orange and lemon trees is about 70°, and the minimum 40°, but they will bear ten more degrees, and eight degrees less; the grand point is to get them well ripened before October.

EPACRIS CUTTINGS (W. M. H.).-These are treated the same way as heath cuttings, and the plants are afterwards managed in most respects like heaths. Use good peat, with one-third sand, good drainage, and a cool greenhouse for the cuttings; fill a small pot half full of crocks, and then equal parts of fine sifted peat and silver sand, with a quarter-of-an-inch of fine sand on the top; press down and water, then mark the sand with a bell-glass that will just fit inside the pot; make your cuttings half-an-inch long and of recently formed young wood. After planting them within the circle, give them a gentle watering, and when they are dry place the glass firmly over them, and keep them in a shady part of the greenhouse, or a gentle hotbed, and attend to watering and keeping them free from damp.

TROPOOLUM TUBEROSUM (Susannah, Coniston).-Our correspondent says:-"In consequence of Mr. Beaton's remarks on Troœolum tuberosum' I procured a tuber, and planted it and coiled it according to his directions. It flourished, and delighted me by its extreme delicacy of form, and at the same time was such a little spirited elastic creature, I called it the baby! One morning, to my extreme regret, I broke off the little green head, but I comforted myself by hoping that in time it might perhaps send out another. My hopes were more than realized; in about a fortnight seven or eight green heads appeared on different parts of the stalk, and it is running about in all directions, so that I really think what I thought an accident may prove an improved mode of treatment. May I add that I have made it a very pretty trellis of eight slender green sticks, about two feet long; these are placed round the pot, and form a pretty shaped vase; the sticks are bound together with strong green cotton, such as is used for crotchet work." You have fully proved that Mr. Beaton was right in saying that this Tropaeolum ought to be trained by ladies. Your plant may do well, but we cannot recommend the tops to be nipped, and Mr. Beaton would never forgive us if we did.

BURGUNDY PEAR-TREE (J. S.).-Your tree is about 12 years old, and to a casual observer a flourishing tree. For several years past it has borne no fruit, but many of the small branches are dead, and the tree is full of small shoots which grow out of all the live branches, and not a fruit appears. Cutting out these twigs appears to be useless. Your pear is a common case, and, we fear, a hopeless one. Sometimes the dying tops are induced by a bad subsoil, but frequently also by the "worn out" character of the kind; for there is a "wearing out" in pears as sure as there is in apples. Thus, few can now grow the St. Germains, the D'Auch, the Crassanne, or the Brown Beurré, some of the finest pears we ever had, and perhaps equal to most of our new ones; they are doubtless wearing out, hence the necessity of encouraging fresh kinds. You will do well (as we think) to make the tree a flower support.

SHELL-LESS EGGS (Theydon).-When a hen habitually lays eggs without shells, she has the disease called the lush, or oon. It arises from her digestion being torpid, and the certainty of this may be ascertained by feeling her crop; if this be hard, there is no doubt. Give her two teaspoonsful of gin twice a week, and give her nourishing soft food.

VINEGAR PLANT (M. F. G.)-Send your address (fee) to Mr. George Brewin, Wortley, Sheffield; or to Mrs. Nanney, Caenby Rectory, Spittal, Lincolnshire; they kindly offer to send you one.

SPOT ON THE ACHIMENES (—).—The spots on the leaves of this are said, by one of our correspondents (F. N.), to be caused by watering over them, instead of putting the water into the saucer.

NAME OF PUMPKIN (F. N.). - We cannot tell this (green and white-speckled); the varieties are endless.

FURZE OR GORSE (Ibid). - The only successful mode of cultivating this is by sowing the seed where the plants are to remain. Sow early in April. The soil should be light and well drained.

TANNERS BARK FOR PLUNGING (J. C. K. R.).-A correspondent writes as follows:-" In answer to your correspondent, "A. È. W.,” last November, relative to the use of tan in a pit for preserving plants, you did not recommend it. I have used it this winter with success, and have not lost one healthy old plant or young cuttings, all taken early and potted off." Notwithstanding this success, we prefer sand, or coal-asties, for the purpose. There is no harbour for fungi or insects in these.

SAP (Pelerin). The idea of sap passing into the finer vessels of the leaves in the state of gas, is ingenious; but there are too many opposing facts and experiments demonstrating that it cannot be true. VINES (Tyro).-The "small clear globules" on the leaves are not mildew, but probably moisture deposited upon them from the air of your house. We fear from your account you keep the air too moist, in proportion to the light we have yet. You will see if we are right by your vine shots being too long jointed and weak. We cannot advise as to any book on colours, unless we knew your object. NAMES OF PLANTS (S. Smith).-No. 1. The Smooth Rivina, Rivina lævis. 2. Centradenia rosea. (Constant Reader, Swansea). -The heath-leaved sprig is Nierembergia filicaulis, a very beautiful greenhouse plant; yet good for bedding out. The other plant is Alonsoa incisifolia, also a greenhouse plant.

LILY OF THE VALLEY (Ibid).- Notwithstanding this is not the time to do so, you may take up a few plants and pot them, and place them in a pit with heat, from 50° to 60°. Do not be too free with the water-pot, nor yet let them want for moisture.

LONDON: Printed by HARRY WOOLDRIDGE, Winchester High Street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by WILLIAM SOMERVILLE ORR, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ Church, City of London.-March 14th, 1850.

ST. BENEDICT, surnamed "The Great," was born, about the year 480, at poleto, in Italy, and became a hermit at the carly age of fourteen, but soon accepted the office of abbot to a neighbouring monastery, and again returned to his seclusion, disgusted with the manners of the monks. From that time, he sought to reform and elevate the monks of the West to a power equal to that attained by the Eastern monks. In 592, he laid the foundation of the celebrated monastery of Monte Cassino, and instituted the Benedictine Order of monks, which soon overspread Europe. The rules of the Order were founded upon pious and moral principles; but man was not created for seclusion and mechanical devotion; and the order soon became, like its predecessors, an instrument of avarice and ambition. This depravity and subversion of the Order did not occur until after the 9th century. St. Benedict died on this day, A.D. 543.

PALM SUNDAY is so called in commemoration of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem just previously to his sacrifice-on which occasion his disciples strewed palm branches before him. Decorating houses and

churches with evergreens, on this anniversary, has been a practice in this country from a very early age; and the box and the yew being substituted for the palm of the East, is believed by some persons to be the reason why they are generally found near four churches. In place of the evergreens, or in union with them, the twigs of the sallow, with its yellow and velvet-coated buds, are now gathered on this day; and the expedition for obtaining them is called, in the north of England, "going a palmsoning." Many are the superstitions associated with this anniversary; but it was not until very lately that we heard of a conversation in a seed-shop, where the lady was urgent to have her flower-seeds, because, "if sown on Palm Sunday the flowers would certainly be double."

METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA.-During the last twenty-three years, the average highest and lowest temperatures of these days have been, respectively, 520 and 34.6°. The greatest heat was on the 27th in 1830, the thermometer then reaching 75°; and the extreme cold was on the 20th in 1845, when it fell to 16°. During the period, rain occurred on 65 days, and 96 were fine.

NATURAL PHENOMENA INDICATIVB ОР WEATHER. Falling stars usually occur during fine weather, but usually indicate a change. Mice squeaking and gamboling much more than usual behind the wainscotting of our rooms, foretel a change of weather, especially from fair to toul. Missel thrushes before storms are observed to whistle unusually loud, and to prolong their song until the very commencement of the rain. Hence, in some localities, it is called "The Storm Cock." Moles, when rain approaches, are unusually busy throwing up their hillocks, probably because the worms on which they prey then rise to nearer the earth's surface.

female combine to form the hole through which she may gain an entrance to the inner bark; after which she proceeds alone to make those shafts and their branching galleries (see cut), at the end of each of which she deposits an egg. Nos. 3 and 4 in the annexed woodcut

and figure 1 exhibits it magnified. When first emerging from the chrysalis state it is brownish yellow, but soon becomes brownish black; and the wing-sheaths are marked with dotted lines, and are abruptly shortened with a toothed edge, as shewn in the same drawing. Its maggot is about a quarter-of-an-inch long, wrinkled and white. The beetle is found in this country in June. The male and

shew the Scotch Pine Bark beetle (Hylurgus piniperda), of which a description will be found at p. 329 of our second volume, but of which we repeat a drawing, because we are enabled to add delineations of its maggot (fig. 5), and its chrysalis or pupa (fig. 6).

No. LXXVII., VOL. III.

RESUMING, from page 230, our consideration of the roots of plants, so far as science throws such light upon the subject as may be beneficial to the horticulturist, we have now to offer a few observations, which, we regret to know, are opposed to the opinions of some of our coadjutors.

According to the usual acceptation of the term, the roots of plants do not emit excrements, yet it is quite certain that, in common with all the other parts of a plant, they perspire matters differing in their amount and composition in every species. The earth, in contact with the tubers of a potato fully ripe, we have found to contain mucillage, or gummy matter, and it has the peculiar odour of the tuber. That in contact with the roots of peas also contains gummy matter, and smells very strongly of that vegetable; and the freshly up-turned soil where cabbages have been growing emits an offensive stench. If plants are grown in water, that water acquires impregnations differing with each species vegetating in it; and, in addition to these facts, every gardener knows that the vigour and luxuriance of a crop is influenced remarkably by that which immediately before pre-occupied the ground on which it is growing; and this does not arise from the previous crop having robbed the soil of constituents required by its successor, but from its having something offensive. Thus, brassicas will not grow healthily upon soil where the previous crop was of the same tribe, but if the ground be pared and burnt they will grow luxuriantly; and the same occurs to ground exhausted by strawberries: if it be burnt and managed afresh, strawberries will grow as vigorously as upon fresh ground, but they will not do so if manure only is applied.

The fact that the roots of plants do give out peculiar and varying matters to the soil which sustains them, aids to explain why one rotation of crops is superior to another, as well as why fallowing is beneficial.

Fallowing gets rid by decomposition of any offensive excrementitious matters, as well as accumulates that which is desirable for plants; and one crop succeeds better after some predecessors than after others, because their exuviæ, or matters thrown out by them, are to that crop more useful as food.

Plants are very much benefited by having oxygen applied to their roots, being found to consume more than their own volume of that gas in twenty-four hours; and when applied by Mr. Hill to the roots of melons, hyacinths, &c., the first were found to be improved in flavour, the second in beauty, and all in vigour. Everything, therefore, that promotes the presentation of oxygen to the roots of plants must be beneficial; thus we find, that frequently stirring the ground about them promotes their growth; for, in proportion as the soil is loose can the atmosphere

the more easily penetrate it. Moist earth rapidly absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, as Humboldt has demonstrated, but dry soil does not; this affords another reason for frequently stirring the earth about plants during the droughts of summer; for well pulverized soil admits the evening dews, &c., more freely than consolidated ones, and consequently dews will be deposited more within their texture, and moisture is more firmly retained in such pulverized soils, inasmuch as that they are not so much heated by the sun's rays, being more pervaded by the air, which, like all gases, is one of the worst conductors of heat.

M. Schlüber has more recently published experiments upon this subject, and their results confirm those of M. Humboldt. No earth, in the following table, absorbed any oxygen from the air in which they were confined, so long as they were dry; but when moist, and confined in a similar bulk of atmospheric air for thirty days, they had absorbed its oxygen in the following proportions

Siliceous sand Calcareous sand Gypsum in powder

Sandy clay ...

Loamy clay...........

OUR floricultural readers will hear with no small pleasure, that the prospect of receiving a YELLOW GERANIUM again brightens. The following extract is from a letter we have received from the active and intelligent Secretary of one of our local Horticultural Societies:

"In consequence of perusing your article on the best mode of sending bulbs, &c., to England from hot countries, I was induced to write to a near relative-the wife of a missionary of considerable influence, who has resided great part of his life in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope-asking her to make some inquiry as to whether the Yellow Geranium was really to be met with. Agreeably to my request, she wrote to Natal, but the flower is not (as you supposed) to be met with in that part of the colony, nor could she then hear of it. On making further inquiry, she was informed by a gentleman (I am not certain whether a missionary or a merchant) that he knew of three places where the yellow geranium is to be found; and I am promised, at an early opportunity, some seed if it can be procured. Believing that you and your readers would feel interested in this, I am induced to trouble you with this letter."

THE FRUIT-GARDEN. MELONS.-We have not said much about melon culture hitherto, for other matters which concern the majority of our readers have been somewhat pressing; knowing, also, that to many a good crop of melons of full flavour in July and August will be preferable to very early ones, which are double the expense, and by no means so highly flavoured.

As to fermentation of the manure, that we described in the No. for Dec. 27, under the head "Cucumbers:" the same process may be pursued with the melon, observing to "work" the dung as much, or even more, at this advanced period, when a sudden increase of atmospheric temperature is apt to excite imperfectly worked fermenting materials up to "burning pitch" suddenly.

We are now supposing the ordinary dung frame to be employed; and their culture in brick pits of any kind is so similar, that we need at present say nothing special on that head. In building the bed, we would advise the precaution recommended for the cucumbers, of raising a column of unfermentable materials beneath each hillock: this plan answers exceedingly well, and, indeed, renders the process safe. A bed for March should be about three feet six inches high at the back; but three feet, or even less, will suffice during the remainder of the season. Tree leaves, if at hand, should by all means be mingled liberally with the dung, in the proportion of one half, at least.

As soon as the bed is built, linings of long litter should be placed around it, to promote speedy fermentation; and in about one week the bed will have become very hot-hotter, indeed, than at any period afterwards; and now the temporary lining may be in part drawn aside (the object of forcing the fermentation to its highest pitch having been accomplished), and the bed must receive a thorough watering, using a double amount of water along the centre.

Preparation for the "hills" or mounds of soil may now proceed; and our practice is to hollow each centre, where the hillock is to be placed, a foot deeper than the rest of the bed; for the melon loves depth of soil; and, moreover, with this precaution it is impossible they should burn. We deem it necessary to be very pressing on the amateur as to precautions against burning; knowing that he is more likely in his ardour to make shipwreck on this point than on any other; those thoroughly experienced of course do not need so much caution. Thus, with one foot below the level, and about fifteen inches above, the melon soil will be above two feet deep in the centre, shelving off to about nine inches at the edge of the frame inside. Not that the frame should be soiled over entirely until the plants are becoming established; it is much safer to start the plants for a week or two at first in the hills, leaving a space all round the hills between them, and next the sides of the frame, of naked fermenting material. The policy of this may not be obvious at first sight; we will, therefore, explain it. After all the working or fermenting of the dung, some slight amount of noxious gases will remain, or be engendered in the bed: there is no way so ready or so certain to dissipate them as the application of water. Water, moreover, is needed in the dung, to prevent dryness, to counteract overheating, and also to assist in raising atmospheric moisture, so necessary to the well-being of the young plant until thoroughly established.

And now, as to soil or compost. We have known first-rate melons grown entirely in vegetable matter; we have also witnessed the same in a strong loamy

soil. The success of the melon, as far as the soil is concerned, depends much on the relation the mode of culture bears to the soil in question. Those who use light or vegetable soils lay their account with a free application of water, at certain periods; those who use adhesive loams apply little water to the roots.

The red spider is the greatest pest of the melon, and the rock-a-head, which, in general, occasions much solicitude. If planted in light soils, containing much vegetable matter, they will, of course, grow very luxuriant; and then, if a check ensue through drought, the plants will generally become a prey to the spider. For such reasons, therefore, there is nothing like a sound loam of considerable depth. Nevertheless, as every amateur cultivator cannot always obtain this valuable article, it is well to know, that any moderately rich garden soil will succeed, if deep enough; and, if poor, it may be enriched with a portion of manures, or vegetable matters, in a half-decomposed state.

In making the hillocks, it is a good plan to fill the hollow formed to receive the soil with lumpy turf, fresh from the pasture or common: and on this the mound or hillock of compost. As to raising the young plants, the process is similar to that observed in cucumber culture; only, it may be observed, that the melon cannot well endure so low a temperature as the cucumber. We consider 70° as indispensable; 80°, however, will be found more suitable. They are potted off as soon as the seed-leaf is fully developed; and when they shoot, the central point is in general pinched out; this causes them to push a couple or more of shoots, and those are of a more fruitful character than those first formed, and will be required, without farther stopping, to train over the bed.

We consider two plants enough for a hill, and they may, therefore, be placed in pairs, in five-inch pots, in the potting process. The period of planting the hills must, of course, be ruled by the state of the bed: as soon as the heat is right, and the plants are established, the sooner they are out the better. Melons do not succeed well where they have become stunted in their pots; we have known them afterwards produce nothing but male blossoms.

The subsequent management, until they require to be finally earthed up, will be like cucumbers; to sprinkle the frame occasionally, and sometimes to water the plants, using always tepid water. When the plants begin to reach the outside of the hills, the soiling must be completed, and the surface should be made to slope from the hillock on all sides, thus leaving a convex surface; this keeps the crown of the plant and its stem dry, a necessary course in order to avoid canker, to which the melon is peculiarly liable, especially in damp and cloudy summers. It is a good plan to cover the surface of the bed with small pieces of slate, or fine gravel composed principally of small stones. The fruit will both "set" better and possess higher flavour. The pair of shoots from each plant must be pegged out in a proper direction as they advance; and if the plants stand one north and the other south, one shoot of each may be trained to each angle of each light; and when it nearly meets the angle, the point must be pinched off. Where frames are small, it is well to peg the advancing shoots in a serpentine direction. This will be found to give a greater number of eyes or joints in a given space; and moreover it is a well-known fact, that the farther the shoots extend, the more fruitful they become, and the finer the produce.

Soon after stopping the terminal point, side-shoots will sprout from almost every leaf; and if the plants

FLOWER BEDS.-One of our subscribers (X. Y. Z.) has sent the above plan of a very beautiful flowergarden on a terrace. The figure or shape of this garden is a regular square; two main walks through this square cross each other, and divide the ground into four squares; each of these are again divided from the corners to the centre of the garden, thus forming the four squares into eight triangles. In the centre of the garden is a fountain, with a circular broad walk all round it, into which the other walks terminate, so that either of the eight walks lead you up straight to the fountain between two triangles; the sharp points of the angles being cut off next the fountain to make room for the circular walk round it. There are four flower-beds in each of the eight triangles into which the garden is divided, or 32 beds in the whole; the four beds in each division are of different shapes, but these four shapes are

K, the Terrace Walls.

L, the side next the Drawing Room.

preserved in the divisions all round, thus giving a uniformity to the whole which must be very pleasing on looking at the garden from the drawing-room windows, which are opposite the centre of the garden.

There are only two ways of making flower-beds inside a triangle, or, indeed, inside a regular figure of any shape-a right and a wrong way. When you make a bed or set of beds in an open piece of ground where the boundary is not apparent or fixed by straight or curved lines-as those of a walk, wall, or the dry borders of an adjoining shrubbery-the beds may be made of any shape selected; and although you may discover, when you come to plant such beds, that the plan of them is radically bad, and altogether unfit to form a proper or pleasing arrangement of colours out of them, still, as far as their shapes are concerned, no fault can be found in them. Not so, however, when you come to cut out beds