506 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



Heat. Bottom heat favors root development. Excessive top 

 heat, that is, confined atmospheric heat, with too low temperature at 

 the roots favors excessive top growth. Plants raised under the last 

 named conditions have not their vital forces well enough balanced to 

 transplant well and sustain themselves through the changes, without 

 suffering deterioration from which they never fully recover. Too 

 much top heat from the sun's rays is often the cause of plants becom- 

 ing languid before transplanting from the hotbed. During warm 

 sunny days the glass should be removed or tilted back, and during 

 very warm days when the atmosphere is at a high temperature, shade 

 should be provided. Lath screens made the size and to take the place 

 of each sash, render very good shade protection . The spaces should 

 alternate with each lath and be of the same width. During warm 

 nights, say at a minimum temperature of 45 degrees, it is best to 

 leave off the sash, as such exposure tends to make the plants hardier. 



Air. Plenty of fresh air is needed by plants at all times, and 

 especially while a high temperature prevails, and plants are in the 

 activity of growing. Good judgment may determine when and how 

 much to ventilate, and a thermometer hanging in the frame will af- 

 ford something of a guide. About seventy to seventy-five degrees is 

 a good day temperature and 45 to 55 degrees for night. 



Transplanting. A common error is in allowing plants to re- 

 main too long in the hotbed before transplanting. They are usually 

 allowed to grow without thinning, as it seems to most persons a sacri- 

 fice to destroy the things that have cost labor and painstaking care. 

 Left in this way slender growth will always be the result, and much 

 time is sacrificed in nursing the plants back to the vigor they once 

 possessed before they became too cramped in growth. Again, do not 

 plant hotbeds too early, as young thrifty plants set in the open 

 ground have a decided advantage over those left too long in the seed 

 bed and weakened by spindling growth. If plants are inclined to 

 grow tall and crowd each other before the season will justify trans- 

 planting to the open garden, it will prove wise economy to thin them 

 endugh to insure good healthy and stocky vigor. If it is desirable to 

 save the plants removed by thinning they can be transplanted to other 

 beds with perfect success. A hotbed is not necessary to receive them, 

 but what gardeners call a cold frame can be provibed. This is in 

 every sense a hotbed prepared without the heating material, but oth- 

 erwise constructed the same. Some plants are somewhat difficult to 

 transplant excepting while very young. It will pay to provide small 

 pots, or something of the kind, while the plants are very small and 

 can be taken up with soil adhering. Started in this way they can at 

 any time be shifted to larger receptacles and given more room as in- 

 creased growth demands, and the soil need not be disturbed from the 

 roots. A good substitute for pots is old one-quart tin fruit or tomato 

 cans. They can be unsoldered, the bottoms removed, and the circu- 

 lar shape preserved by wrapping and tying with stout string. When 

 shifting these bottomless cans a trowel can be run under them and 

 they are lifted without the contents falling out at the bottom. The 



