CONSTRUCTION AND CARE OF HOTBEDS 



proper time for starting the hotbed that a little 

 discussion on this point may not be amiss at this 

 time. I noticed an article recently in which it was 

 stated that the middle of February was the proper 

 time in which to start the hotbed. I have no doubt 

 that there are certain sections of the country in 

 which the hotbed may, with advantage, be started 

 as early as February, but they will not be found 

 in the vicinity of New York, Chicago, Detroit, or 

 anywhere much north of Philadelphia. There is no 

 amount of heating material which may be put into 

 a hotbed pit, or any devised covering which will 

 keep the frost out of a hotbed when the tempera- 

 ture is loafing around in the vicinity of zero for 

 a stretch of several days at a time, as it is prone to 

 do in February at the North. Nor would there be 

 any practical reason for this early starting of the 

 beds were it possible for them to be kept free from 

 frost and the plants in a growing condition, which 

 the necessity of covering with rags and things 

 which shut out air and light for days at a time, 

 would render impossible. 



The prime object in the use of a hotbed is to 

 have plants ready for setting out in the open 

 ground as soon as the weather is favourable; this 



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