THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN 



107 



Early plants. Early plants for outdoor use, such as lettuce, early 

 cabbage, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, may be started in the 

 hotbed. 1 Early crops of lettuce and radishes are also profitably 

 grown in hotbeds. Hardy plants like lettuce, radishes, beets, peas, 

 parsnips, and salsify may be planted very early in the open. In 

 fact, gardeners often risk losing the seed of corn and beans in 

 order to obtain an early product if the season should prove a favor- 

 able one. This is advisable in the home garden, for even if the 

 crop is cut down by frost, the loss is small and no time has really 

 been lost. Extra early potatoes may be obtained by starting them 

 in boxes or flats and transplanting them like tomatoes ; but if this 

 is considered too much 

 trouble, the crop can 

 be hastened by bring- 

 ing the seed for the 

 early crop into a 

 warm, light room three 

 or four weeks before 

 planting time and al- 

 lowing the tubers to 

 sprout. By taking ad- 

 vantage of these sim- 

 ple methods much 

 earlier products can be 

 secured from the gar- 

 den. When the hotbed is employed it will be found that in many 

 cases the cold frame will play an important part both in the spring 

 and in the autumn. Early cabbage, tomatoes, eggplants, and pep- 

 pers should be hardened in the cold frame before being planted 

 in the open. The discussion of thinning and transplanting on 

 pages 37-42 should be reviewed in this connection. 



In addition to the hotbed and cold frame there is the hand box, 

 or forcing hill ; that is, a box about 6 inches deep and I o x 12 or 

 12 x 14 inches square, covered with a pane of glass. Such boxes 

 are used in connection with crops which must be seeded in place 

 in the field. They will protect against light frosts as well as in- 

 sects, and if wire screening is combined with the glass, the frames 



1 See pages 57-61 for construction of hotbeds. 



FIG. 31. Combination forcing box and plant 

 protector 



