HOTBEDS 5 



I sow about one and a half ounces of seed on the 

 space covered by a single sash frame, which is usually 

 three feet by six or nearly that, and expect from it 

 from 5000 to 8000 plants. To grow the 120,000 plants 

 required for a one-acre patch would therefore call for 

 the use of a frame of not less than nearly twenty 

 sashes. 



The seed is to be evenly scattered into the furrows, 

 and the latter carefully filled in again with the hand. 

 The soil is then well firmed by pressing a piece of 

 board or block of wood down upon it. The sash or 

 sashes are then put on, and the bed left pretty much 



Fig 6 HOTBED ON LEVEL GROUND 



to itself, except giving air on fine days, and an occa- 

 sional thorough watering when the soil seems to 

 become very dry. In eight weeks, more or less, the 

 plants will be ready for transfer to open ground. 



Personally, I am getting to be more and more in 

 favor of greenhouses for growing plants of any kind, 

 and of onion plants in particular. We have to start 

 onion plants early earlier, really, than it is conven- 

 ient to make and operate hotbeds, unless the latter are 

 heated by an ordinary flue, or, still better, by the 

 waste steam of factories. 



A so-called fire hotbed (one heated by a flue) is a 

 rather simple affair, and easily and cheaply put up 



