112 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



for beds with raised edging boards, etc., etc., are all on the cold 

 frame principle, and in this climate, where so little increment of 

 heat is required and where shade is often desirable, the arrange- 

 ment serves an excellent purpose. 



The Hot-bed. The hot-bed consists of a box of dimensions like 

 those described for a cold frame, which is placed above a mass of 

 fermenting manure which supplies bottom heat. The old regula- 

 tion style of hot-bed was made by digging out a pit the size of the 

 frame, throwing out the soil to a depth of eighteen inches or two 

 feet. Fill in the excavation with a foot depth of fresh horse ma- 

 nure mixed with straw as it comes from a stable where the animals 

 are well bedded with straw. Tread the manure down firmly; put 

 on the frame and cover the manure with eight to ten inches of 

 good light and rich sandy loam that will not bake or crust over 

 when sprinkled with water. Bank up the outside of the frame 

 with the same kind of manure used inside, and cover with window 

 sashes of the proper length to reach across the bed and rest on the 

 sides. The sashes should not be too wide as it is desirable to un- 

 cover part of the bed at a time. As soon as the manure begins to 

 ferment and heat the bed is ready for use. Sow seeds in rows from 

 front to back of the bed, and germination will be very rapid. On 

 warm days the cover should be lifted a little or partially or wholly 

 removed, according to the heat of the day and the activity of the 

 bottom heat in the bed. Water freely with water from which the 

 chill has been removed. 



This old style of hot-bed is contrived to freely employ the heat 

 of the fermenting manure and to push plants during zero tempera- 

 tures in the outer air. Of course, where winter temperatures but 

 rarely fall to the freezing point, and where the winter day heat often 

 runs at shirt sleeves and sun-bonnet degrees, such a hot-bed is as 

 excessive in the garden as a feather-bed is in the house. For these 

 reasons, the horse manure is made less active by considerable ad- 

 mixture of chaff or dried leaves or other mollients. This mixture 

 is placed on the surface of the ground in a place protected from cold 

 winds, and is properly mixed and packed down into a compact, flat 

 pile, somewhat larger than the frame, which is placed upon the top 

 of it and the same material is drawn up around the outside of the 

 ends and sides of the frame. Inside the frame the soil is placed 

 just as described for the hot-bed with a pit. This raised, instead 

 of depressed, hot-bed is easier to make and it has other advantages 

 for this climate. It is not likely to have its pit flooded and the heat 

 choked off by rain water just at the time when its action is desired. 

 It is also easier to prevent excessive heat because it allows better 

 opportunities for radiation. But even with this the plants have to 

 be very carefully watched and air freely given or they will become 

 leggy and weak from too great forcing-heat. These local conditions 

 have also given rise to other modifications of hot-bed arrangements 

 which are excellent for this climate. One is shown in an adjacent 



