No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 285 



plunged thermometer subsides to 95 degrees, it is safe to sow the 

 seeds. 



Cold frames are made of boards or planks set on top of the ground 

 and given the same slope as hot beds. They should always slope 

 to the south, southeast or southwest. It pays to make the frames 

 of sound, durable lumber. The sash should invariably be made of 

 cypress or cedar, the joints being leaded before putting together. 

 Keep them well-painted and stored in the dry when not in use. 

 There are many factories in the country where good cedar or cypress 

 sash can be bought glazed or unglazed, and they are so much superior 

 to pine sash made in local factories that it is never desirable to pur- 

 chase the latter. 



THE USE OF HOT-BEDS. 



Hot-beds are used to start all vegetable plants with which earli- 

 ness is especially important, as lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, toma- 

 toes^ egg-plant, peppers, celery and other vegetables. The first sow- 

 ing of cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce seed should be made about 

 February first or even earlier in the eastern part of the State. The 

 practice of many gardeners is to place a few inches of good soil di- 

 rectly on the manure, depositing the seed in this soil rather than in 

 flats placed on the manure. It is much more convenient^ however, to 

 use flats. These shallow boxes or flats are made by ripping small 

 boxes into sections about two inches deep. Boxes in which canned 

 tomatoes and soaps have been shipped are very convenient forms and 

 sizes. The bottoms of the flats are usually made from thin lumber 

 of large boxes the pieces of which are long enough to make two 

 lengths for the bottoms of the flats. It is a temptation to make these 

 flats three or four inches deep, but they are of little or no advantage 

 over those only two inches deep. We have used various depths, and 

 just as good plants have been grown in the shallow flats as in deeper 

 ones. 



The soil for starting the young plants should be light and loamy 

 in character and, at least, moderately fertile. Foresight must be ex- 

 ercised to store the soil in the fall before the ground is frozen. If 

 the hot-bed is small a few barrels of soil stored in the cellar will 

 answer the purpos<' If operations are to be quite extensive, a large 

 pile may be hauled into a warm stable or cave. When cabbage 

 plants are to be started, special care should be exercised to get soil 

 free from the disease-germs which cause club-root. 



When the time for sowing has arrived and the temperature of the 

 manure in the hot-bed is not more than 90 degrees, fills the flats with 

 soil (which has been screened, if very gravelly), pressing firmly, es- 

 pecially in the corners and along the sides. The sides may be sown 



