142 MINNESOTA STATE HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE HOTBED AND ITS USES. 



PAUL BURTZLAFF, STILLWATER. 



The uses of the hotbed are various, and for a market gardener 

 it is impossible to get along without it, for growing vegetable plants, 

 such as early cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, pepper and egg plants, 

 and for forcing vegetables, such as lettuce, rhubarb, radish and pars- 

 ley, also cucumbers, for the early spring market. With proper care, 

 they are quite profitable. Two crops of lettuce can easily be grown 

 between the ioth of March and the middle of June; in fact, there 

 is such a demand for hotbed grown lettuce that people want it as 

 long as they can possibly get it. Of course it is more difficult to 

 grow it when the weather is getting very warm on account of the 

 green aphides which attach to it. 



The hotbed should find a place in every farmer's garden. It 

 does not take much capital to have one. The best location is a 

 southern slope, surrounded on the north and west by buildings or 

 groves; or if that can not be had, build a board fence about eight 

 feet high. The beds are started in our latitude between the ioth 

 and 20th of March. For growing vegetable plants the 20th is 

 early enough, but for forcing lettuce or radish for the early market 

 the bed should be started about the ioth or before. The material 

 generally used for heating the beds is fermented horse manure. 

 To have best results, and to lengthen the time of heating, secure 

 fresh horse manure, and that of highly fed horses is best. Haul 

 this to a heap near your beds. Do not make the pile round, but 

 make a long square top pile about four or five feet high. If it 

 does not start to heat readily, pour a few buckets of water in the 

 center of the pile, which will most generally start it. 



The first fermentation is nearly always irregular; that is, it be- 

 gins at several places. In order to make the fermentation uni- 

 form, the pile may be turned occasionally, taking care to break up 

 all hard lumps and distribute the hot manure throughout the mass; 

 if the manure is very dry moisten it with warm water. The best 

 results are generally obtained from manure from livery stables, 

 which does not contain much straw and can be gotten fresh. It 

 is sometimes necessary to turn the pile three or four times before 

 it can be used, but two times is ordinarily sufficient. When the 

 pile is steaming uniformly it is fit to put in the frames. 



The frames generally used are made movable; the size is about 

 six by twelve feet, to hold four sash. They are made of inch lumber. 

 If one expects to use hotbeds every year, however, it is advisable 

 to make the frames of two-inch lumber, well painted, and to join the 



