HOTBEDS 



HOTTONIA 



1607 



small furnace or firebox is constructed of brick or 

 concrete at the lower end of the frames from which one 

 or more lines of hotbeds may be heated. As a rule, it is 

 not best to heat more than two rows of frames from a 

 furnace. 



The flues are placed so that they will be 10 or 12 

 inches below the surface of the soil in the frames and 

 they should rise gradually toward the farther end, 

 where they should be connected with a pipe which 

 will serve as a chimney. The height should vary from 

 6 to 10 feet, according to the length of the frames. 

 For use in the winter, there should be two flues in a 

 frame 12 feet wide. 



When the hotbeds are located near a greenhouse 

 heated by steam or hot water, it will be found satis- 

 factory, particularly if the beds are higher than the 

 heating plant, to put in either hot-water or steam pipes 

 for heating them. While beds 6 feet in width may be 

 heated in this way, it is better to make them about 12 

 feet wide, with a ridge in the center and a row of hot- 

 bed sash on each side. To heat such a frame with hot 

 water, a 2J^-inch flow-pipe should be run just under 

 the ridge and there should be one or two 2-inch returns 

 on each of the side walls. For use in the spring, one 

 return on a side would answer, but in the winter months 

 two will be necessary in sections where the mercury 

 reaches zero, unless the beds are covered to prevent 

 the escape of the heat. When steam is used, the feed- 

 pipe should be \Y^- or 2-inch and IJ^-inch pipe should 

 be used for the returns. 



In the northern states, it is seldom desirable to use 

 hotbeds of any kind for the growing of winter crops, 

 as not only can better results be secured in greenhouses, 

 for which the cost will be but little more, but the work 

 of handling the hotbeds in cold, stormy weather will 

 be very disagreeable and unsatisfactory. In the South, 

 however, hotbeds answer very well for winter use, both 

 for growing plants for the truck-garden and for the 

 forcing of various vegetable crops, although even there 

 the simply constructed greenhouses would be more 

 satisfactory. 



Coldframes. 



As an adjunct to the greenhouse when one is grow- 

 ing truck-crops, or bedding-plants, a coldframe will be 

 found very helpful. These differ from hotbeds only 

 in relying upon the sun for their heat. The surface of 

 the soil should be from 6 to 12 inches below the glass. 



If plants are to be 

 grown in the soil of 

 a frame, care should 

 be taken that it is 

 adapted to the crop 

 and that it is well 

 stored with avail- 

 able plant-food. In 

 many cases the 

 frames are merely 

 used for the harden- 

 ing of plants which have been grown in the greenhouse, 

 or for the carrying of half-hardy plants through the 

 winter. For these purposes the soil in the frames should 

 be of a sandy or porous nature. 



Glass sash should be used for covering the frames in 

 the winter but, in the spring, canvas and other substi- 

 tutes answer very well, particularly when the frames are 

 to be used for the growing of seedlings. A long strip 

 of canyas may be stretched lengthwise of the bed as a 

 covering at night and upon cold days, and removed in 

 whole or in part in pleasant weather. Oiled paper and 

 water-proofed muslin are also used as substitutes for 

 glass in hotbed sash. 



Management of hotbeds. 



If the weather is mild during the latter part of 

 February, the manure can be procured arid prepared 



1915. Fire hotbed. 



for use so that the hotbed may be started about the 

 first of March. If properly constructed they will pro- 

 vide heat for two months, and can then be used during 

 May as coldframes, thus making it possible to take off 

 two crops in the spring. Although it is not often prac- 

 tised, they may be used in the fall for growing a crop 

 of lettuce or other vegetables, which can be matured 

 before the first of December. 



r^S^-T- 



cn Q 



1916. Hotbed or forcing-house heated by hot water. 



If a greenhouse is not available for starting the plants, 

 seeds of lettuce, radishes, cabbages and other of the 

 hardier plants may be sown in the hotbed in the spring 

 as soon as it is ready, in rows 4 or 5 inches apart. 

 When the first true leaf appears, the radishes should be 

 thinned and the other plants transplanted to about 2 

 inches. Later on, the lettuce plants should be placed 

 about 8 inches apart each way. If the weather is so 

 cold that the bed should not be kept open, the seeds 

 may be sown and the first transplanting may be in 

 flats or boxes, which can then be placed in the beds. 

 Aside from proper ventilation, covering and watering, 

 the beds should occasionally be weeded and the soil 

 stirred. About the first of April, tomatoes, cucumbers 

 and similar plants may be started. As soon as one crop 

 is taken off another should be placed in the beds, and 

 by deepening the soil they may be used during the early 

 summer for growing cauliflower, tomatoes and cucum- 

 bers - L. R. TAFT. 



HOTEIA: Astilbe. 



HOTTONIA (Peter Hotton, 1648-1709, professor at 

 Leyden). Primulacese. FEATHERFOIL. Two species of 

 water plants, perennial, not very ornamental, but suit- 

 able for small aquaria. 



Plants rooting or floating, the sts. spongy and air- 

 bearing, the peduncles hollow and erect : Ivs. submersed 

 and dissected, passing into entire narrow whorled 

 bracts: fls. white or purplish, whorled and racemose, 

 emersed; corolla salverform, with 5-parted limb; ovary 

 free: fr. a globular more or less 5-valved many-seeded 

 caps. The European species is procurable from 

 dealers in aquatics; the American can be gathered in 

 shallow, stagnant ponds from Mass, to W. N. Y. and 

 south to Fla. and La. 



palustris, Linn., the European plant, is an herb with 

 creeping rootstock, whorled leafy branches entirely 

 submerged and alternate, pinnately dissected Ivs., the 

 divisions numerous and linear. From the center of the 

 whorl of branches a single leafless fl.-st. rises out of the 

 water in summer, bearing a raceme with several whorls 

 of 3-5 or 6 handsome pale purple fls., apparently with 



