100 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fine seeds four inches is an abundance. It would probably not be 

 enough earth to make the plants large enough to set out where 

 they are to stay. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke : Would not the manure make the earth too 

 hot if there were only four inches? 



Mr. Baldwin : Not if he put in only a few inches of manure. 



Mr. Probstfield : I see members are somewhat shy about speak- 

 ing of their experience with hotbeds, but I have made hotbeds for 

 our own use for the last thirty years. I will describe mine. We 

 make no hole in the ground, because if we get a heavy shower of 

 rain or a snow storm we will get too much water in our hotbed. 



Clematis paniculata at residence of Mrs. A. S. Hanson. 



We pile up two feet of well rotted horse manure and work it over 

 to make it according to requirements. We have generally about 

 four sashes, taken off the house, and those will cover a hotbed about 

 twelve feet long and six feet wide. In that hotbed we raise all our 

 own cabbage and tomato plants every year, and also all the flower 

 plants we want to set out, and it is very little trouble except when 

 the seeds are coming up. I do not sow the seeds until the ground 

 becomes warm, and we put in about six inches of earth. After the 

 earth becomes warm we plant the seeds. We cover the seed with 

 an old gunnysack, but they have to be looked after every day, 

 and as soon as the first seed sprouts take off the sacks. If you can 



