202 PRIZE GARDENING 



table close to a south window, in a room where a coal 

 fire was kept night and day. At night the box was 

 moved near the stove. Tomato seeds came up finely in 

 seven days, tgg plant and peppers fairly well in four- 

 teen days. As the seeds came up the cloth was 

 removed and the box turned each day so as to have the 

 opposite side placed next to the window, as the plants 

 will lean toward the light. 



I made a hotbed, April lo, using three sash frames 

 I have had five years. I took out last year's dirt and 

 manure, and in the bottom put two loads of horse 

 manure. One man threw in the manure while another 

 kept it evenly spread and trodden down ; not very hard, 

 but so as to keep it from settling. Then four inches of 

 last year's dirt was thrown in, and about an inch of 

 fresh black garden mold spread over it. With a gar- 

 den rake I drew out all the coarse lumps, leaving the 

 soil fine. The sash was then put on and kept closed 

 night and day, until I sowed some seed. I banked up 

 with dirt outside the frame to within one or two inches 

 of the top of the frame, the bank of last year having 

 been allowed to remain in place the whole year. 



Sowed in the hotbed, April 13, cabbage twelve 

 varieties, broccoli one, cauliflower two, lettuce one, 

 asters six, mignonette one, pansies one, verbena two. 

 I made drills four inches apart, one-half inch in depth, 

 with a pointed stick. I sowed the seed in the drills and 

 covered them by brushing a garden hoe lightly over 

 them lengthwise, which also pressed the soil sufiiciently 

 close to the seed. I kept a record of the sowing and 

 marked the different varieties with a numbered plant 

 label between each two kinds. The soil was watered 

 with a fine-nosed watering pot and covered, with a 

 cloth. After this the bed was watered every two or 

 three days as seemed necessary. When plants came up 

 the cloth was removed. The sashes were kept closed 



