CHAPTER VI 



HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES 



THE value of a hotbed can hardly be over-estimated 

 as, with its assistance, we may raise all sorts of seedlings 

 and thereby save much money and economise precious 

 time, also, should we feel disposed, we may rear on it 

 quite a large number of limited crops out of season, when 

 they are scarce and expensive. But, as with all things 

 that possess such obvious attractions, the hotbed has 

 its limitations. If you can only devote your Saturday 

 afternoons and a chance evening or two during the week 

 to garden work, then the hotbed is not for you. It 

 must have care lavished on it night and morning and 

 frequently at mid-day. Perhaps you can attend to it 

 before and after business, then enlist the sympathies 

 of the housewife, talk to her romantically about the 

 tender young carrots and crisp little lettuces you mean 

 to rear and she will willingly fulfil your instructions while 

 you are away from home. 



The hotbed is a very primitive way of growing with 

 the aid of heat, but it still holds its own against warmed 

 greenhouses, which are too apt to produce leggy plants 

 by the aid of greedy and every devouring coke furnaces. 



The first thing to do if you mean to construct a hotbed 

 is to go to a local housebreaker who has a stock of old 

 window frame. Pick out one that is strong without 



