HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES. 87 



any, as the 'sun, in late spring, will give sufficient heat. 



Manure for Hotbed. As fresh horse-stable ma- 

 nure, when used alone, is very heating and soon subsides, 

 it is best to mix it with leaves or half rotten straw, as 

 seed may be burned over manure of too high temperature. 

 Of course it is impossible to indicate fixed dates for sow- 

 ing, over a country so broad as this, and with such a 

 variety of climatic conditions. The beginner can get 

 his best hints for procedure from a gardener resident in 

 his district, or others not far removed from it. Any 

 recommendations here simply apply to the Atlantic 

 Middle states, and even there the practice is very diverse. 

 Tomatoes and egg plants are best sown from the first to 

 the fifteenth of March, otherwise they attain too large a 

 size before a right opportunity for transplanting may 

 present itself. 



The writer, and all others of experience, find it 

 always best to make two sowings. Cost of seed is a mat- 

 ter of little importance, as compared with securing a sat- 

 isfactory stand of plants. A gardener had better pay 

 three dollars per pound for good seed than one dollar 

 for seed that will not germinate, or, still worse, to prove, 

 after germinating, to be of inferior quality, as thus his 

 time and labor would be wasted. As it is always desirable 

 to have the crop started ahead of the weeds natural to 

 the soil, the writer suggests the soaking of the seeds 

 before the bed is made, that when the bed arrives at the 

 proper condition the seed may have germinated and be 

 ready to sow. 



Sowing Seeds in Hotbeds. With either tomato, 

 egg plant or cabbage, mix the seed with three times its 

 bulk of sifted sand, white sand preferred, that the seed 

 may be better distributed ; soak in tepid water for one 

 hour and place the mixture of sand and seed in shallow 

 boxes or pans, carefully labeled, and kept in a warm 

 place till the seeds show signs of germinating. Some 



