226 GARDEN GUIDE 



" A good plan for planting a hotbed for the home garden is shown 

 on page 161. The Cabbage, Cauliflower, Tomatoes and Lettuce that 

 are transplanted to this bed can be first raised in a small flat, which is a 

 wooden box twelve inches wide, eighteen inches long outside and 

 two and one-half inches deep, filled with dirt, either earlier in this 

 bed, in another bed, or in the house at a sunny window or behind the 

 stove. Other plants, such as Radishes, Reets and Carrots are sown 

 for maturing in this bed. .For the best results they will require thin- 

 ning, the Reet thinnings being used as greens. The seed of Celery 

 and of Onions is sown and the seedlings are transplanted later. 



"After the Lettuce plants have been disposed of, one row of 

 Cucumber seeds may be planted, the plants being thinned later to 

 six inches apart. Cucumbers may be planted also after the pots at 

 the back of the bed are removed. The Cucumber plants are then 

 allowed to spread at will and to mature a crop of Cucumbers for slicing 

 or for other uses as required. 



" After one crop is taken out another can follow, the soil in the 

 bed being forked over and raked level between crops, and after the 

 manure is spent the bed can be used for the development of vege- 

 tables throughout the Summer. In the Fall the soil and the spent 

 manure is taken out of the hotbed pits, the sash is stored away, and 

 the board covering is replaced for Winter protection. Fresh manure 

 is used every Spring, also fresh soil, the process of making and manag- 

 ing the hotbed changing only as the operator becomes more experienced 

 in successful hotbed work." 



The same treatment should be given coldframes, except that they 

 cannot be started so early. 



USEFUL LITTLE FORCING STRUCTURES. The gardener's inventive 

 .genius will devise a hundred ways of growing the earliest possible 

 plants out of doors. He will use boxes with glass lids and butter bell 

 jars. Finally, he will see the advantage of a small individual cold- 

 frame and will have small coldframes one or two feet square con- 

 structed, in which he can cultivate Cantaloupes, Cucumbers, early 

 Peppers, Squash, Lima Reans 



The Cloche Co. has devised a very ingenious plant forcer made 

 of glass held together by wires. They are sun catchers and should be 

 a great factor for early results. It is a handy and useful method 

 of growing vegetables under what it calls "cloches." 



There is a system of forcing under bell-jars called "French 

 gardening." It takes a great deal of labor and a very perfect con- 

 dition of soil, but enormous crops are grown on small areas. Those 

 who are interested hi vegetable growing should read about this French 

 system of gardening. 



