76 



GENERAL ADVICE 



planted into cooler hotbeds or into eoldframes. 

 There are many crops, however, which are carried 



78. Coldframe against a hedge, and protected by straw mats. 



to full maturity in the hotbed itself, as radishes 

 and lettuce. The date at which the hotbed may 

 be started with safety depends almost entirely 

 upon the means at command of heating it and 

 upon the skill of the operator. In the northern 

 states, where outdoor gardening does not begin 

 until the first or the last of May, hotbeds are 

 sometimes started as early as January; but they 

 are ordinarily delayed until early in March. 



The heat for hotbeds is commonly supplied by 

 the fermentation of horse manure. It is impor- 

 tant that the manure be as uniform as possible 



