60 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



60. Breaking ground for the economical type of hot- 

 bed shown by the series on this page 



61. Our good neighbor drops in and kindly agrees 

 to " help us out " 



not get through that either. Then I put on 

 my frames and have him all right." 



"I notice the frames come very near the 

 level in front," remarked my wife. 



"Yes, madame, but I have them with 

 straw banked, and the plants they are down 

 deep. Come, I show you how to make the 

 straw mats." 



We followed, winding in and out among 

 the quaint farm buildings (one of them is the 



grape house, which we hope to describe 

 some day). Out in the barn-yard he pro- 

 duced a wooden frame six feet square. At 

 the top and bottom were holes at intervals. 

 While we watched, the old soldier stretched 

 cord, tarred cord or marlin twine from the 

 top to the bottom, running the ends through 

 the holes and making them fast. At the 

 lower edge he left several inches of the cord, 

 then took a handful of fresh straw, laid it 

 against the strings, took the loose end of 

 twine and bound it with a half -hitch. Six 

 upright cords, and each one used on which 

 to make a bind ; two handfuls of straw make 

 one row across and the heads are laid in the 

 center. Handful after handful was laid on, 

 one above the other, each row bound six 

 times, until the frame was full. The ends 

 were then well fastened, the twine cut from 

 the frame, and a mat large enough to cover 

 two sashes was completed. It was as pretty 

 as a picture, and as easy to make as rolling 

 off a log — when you know how. 



We came home full of enthusiasm. "You 

 can make the cement foundation and brick 

 walls," said my wife, "but I will make the 

 mats of golden straw. I shall feel like Ceres 

 as I carry them in my arms." 



Alas! those frames are but dreams of the 

 future! For the present, some once-used 

 plank and a large sash will suit us very well, 

 for we have them ready to hand, and if the 

 mice and rats do not disturb us it may 

 answer several years. 



However, these are the points we have 

 gathered for practical use: The frame should 

 be well sunk in the earth, for each year the 

 earth and manure must be taken out and 

 replaced. Therefore, unless the frame is 

 well made and imbedded, it will collapse 

 when this process is gone through with. A 

 proper slant is important. The front of the 



I tramped it down well, so that it won't heat 

 too fast " 



63. Closing the incident. The home-made hotbed is 

 now ready to produce fresh vegetables in May 



bed should be not more than four inches 

 above the earth level, while the plants inside 

 should be a foot below the level. The entire 

 frame should be banked on the outside with 

 hot manure to keep an even temperature. 

 Air should be given only on warm (above 

 freezing point) days. Water should be given 

 when needed, and by keeping the frame 

 tightly closed the rising moisture condenses on 

 the glass, falling back again upon the plants. 



A Beginner's Experience with Hotbeds— By Julian Burroughs 



EARLY VEGETABLES FROM TWO STRIPS OF LAND MEAS- 

 URING TWENTY BY A HUNDRED AND TEN BY FIFTY 

 Photographs by the author 



New 

 York 



THE way to get early vegetables is to 

 have a hotbed and transplant young 

 plants to the garden. Figure 67 shows two 

 that I knocked together in a few hours 

 without any cash outlay. Any vegetable 

 can be transplanted provided its roots are 

 not too much disturbed. This is best done 

 by using the heavy, oiled-paper pots. If 

 they are not available, use pasteboard boxes, 

 paper-lined strawberry baskets or even boxes 

 divided into partitions with strips of wood 

 or pasteboard. Shredded- wheat biscuit boxes 

 are ideal for large tomato plants and hills 

 of melons, as the paper can be torn away 

 without breaking a root. Tin cans can be 

 slit down the side before filling with earth, 

 thus making it possible to remove the grow- 

 ing plant without disturbing the roots. 



SEVERAL CROPS ON THE SAME GROUND 



In most gardens you will see a patch of 

 yellow-looking corn (showing a lack of nitro- 

 gen), beets, onions, cabbage, etc., each kind 



by itself and not enough of any one. This 

 year I found that the lettuce, cauliflower, 

 beets and onions could be grown in the corn 

 rows and do better there than by themselves, 

 without shortening the corn crop. Thus, 

 early in June, I started Hubbard squash 

 between the corn rows, which took the place 

 of the early vegetables, shading the ground 

 between the corn and not giving the weeds 

 a show. Each side of the row of muskmelons 

 I put a row of early "Peep-o'-Day" corn, 

 which was out of the way by the time the 

 melons began to run. For melons, like all 

 fruit-bearing, seed-ripening plants, must have 

 sun, being unlike the plants of which we eat 

 the foliage — i. e., lettuce, celery — which are 

 improved by some shading. Between the 

 hills of melons I grew bush Limas and 

 radishes. On one piece of ground, ten by 

 fifty, I put three rows of early potatoes, and 

 on June 10th planted five hills of Hubbard 

 squash between them, and on July 5th when 

 I dug the potatoes I put in two rows of 



StowelPs Evergreen corn. The corn got 

 above the squash just in time and bore a fair 

 crop in October after the other corn was 

 gone. The Hubbards produced twenty-two 

 excellent squashes. Besides the manure 

 plowed in and put in the squash hills, I used 

 wood ashes and ground bone liberally. 



CORN ON JUNE 30TH 



This year I had corn June 30th. When 

 I told my neighbors about it they said 

 nothing — they thought I lied. July 25th 

 was the previous "record." Peep-o'-Day 

 corn was what I used, planting it April 20th 

 in boxes indoors. Under each hill I put 

 a shovel of well-rotted manure, and on the 

 surface of the ground worked in wood ashes 

 liberally. StowelPs Evergreen was used for 

 second plantings. 



TOMATOES FROM JULY 8TH TILL FROST 



Moore's King of the Earlies is the earliest 

 tomato I know. I planted Chalk's Early Jewel 



