Using the Hotbeds in the Hot Weather t. 



SHEWARD 



Just Because the Weather is Warm Don't Imagine that the Hotbed Can't be Used for Forcing Still 



WHY not get the utmost use from the 

 frames and hotbeds? Why let them 

 lie idle during the season of greatest 

 activity just because there is so much 

 going on elsewhere? You do not notice the 

 professional gardener letting up in his hotbed 

 use at this time of year, yet most unprofessional 

 gardeners harbor the notion that the hotbed is 

 only a contraption for the defeat of frost. The 

 fact is that these same essentials for the earliest 

 start can be utilized to emphasize the summer 

 and be made to serve as miniature, more or less 

 tropical, greenhouses for the growing of a few 

 delicate plants that insist in nearly tropical 

 conditions for their very best accounting. After 

 the removal of the first planting of the season's 

 vegetables and flowers in May the hotbeds are 

 ideal places for the raising of melons and cucum- 

 bers of the English or frame type — and if you 

 have never yet experienced the joys of under 

 glass cucumbers by all means start now and get 

 acquainted. 



Cucumbers that Are a Delicacy 



Cucumbers. Sow the seeds in three inch pots, 

 one seed to a pot (Fig. i). Plunge the pots in 

 the hotbed and water them. They will soon be 

 ready for planting (Fig. 2.). 



Make a mound of the soil at the back of the 



frame (Fig. p) and plant the cucumbers on a 

 slant (Fig. S). The ideal soil is one composed of 

 three fourths loam, and one fourth leaf mold 

 or well rotted manure. 



To insure the best results "stop" the plant at 

 the fourth leaf, by cutting off the top (Fig. 10). 

 Side shoots will start (Fig. 10, A) and these 

 should be "stopped" at the second leaf (Fig. 11, 

 A). "Stop" all other shoots breaking from 

 these at the second leaf (Fig. 11, B). When the 

 cucumbers are forming "stop" the plant at one 

 leaf past the fruit (Fig. 11, B, C,). 



Some gardeners "set" the fruit of cucumbers 

 and melons by fertilizing the flowers, placing 

 the pollen from the male or staminate flower 

 (Fig. 16) on the stigma of the female or pistillate 

 flower (Figs. J5, if). 



Water the plants every day with tepid water 

 and syringe them every day before closing the 

 sashes in the afternoon. Remove the lights in 

 July. Some of the foliage can be removed if the 

 plants are too crowded (Fig. II, D). 



Melons, Even Where They "Can't Be Grown" 



Melons are grown much the same as cucum- 

 bers. Sow the seed in pots, three seeds in each 

 pot (Fig. 3), later removing the two weakest 

 plants, thus leaving one good strong plant 

 (Fig. 4). Melon seed can be grown in a piece 



of turf (Fig. 5), the turf cut up (Fig. 6), or 

 still another way is to sow the seed in chip 

 baskets (Fig. f). But if the frames are empty . 

 at this time it is best to sow directly on the 

 hotbed. 



"Set" the plants (Fig. 8) and "stop" them 

 after the fourth leaf (Fig. 12, E). Side shoots 

 will start (Fig. 10, A) and should be "stopped" 

 at one leaf past a forming fruit (Fig. 12, F). 

 Four melons to a plant is sufficient for good 

 results. Choose the best shaped fruits, and 

 remove any others that form (Fig. 12, H, M). 

 "Stop" the melons as shown at G. It is a good 

 plan to place a piece of slate or brick under the 

 fruit to support it (I, L). The shoot shown at 

 /, has not been stopped. Water the plants 

 early in the morning and give them plenty of 

 air in the daytime. Remove the sashes alto- 

 gether in July. 



Tomatoes Ahead of Schedule 



Tomatoes planted in the hotbed may also 

 be counted upon to mature fruits in advance of 

 those that are set outdoors — or rather, other 

 things being equal the plants can be kept grow- 

 ing vigorously without a check by making use of 

 the hotbed. They can be grown to a single 

 stem by removing the side shoots (Fig. 13, A; 

 Fig. 14). 



1|P2^JFIG.8 





B^L. 



TSHE WARD. 



208 



