The Making and Care of Hotbeds and Cold Frames 
The cold frame and hotbed are worthy of much wider attention than they now 
enjoy. With their aid the autumn season can be prolonged and the spring season 
hastened. They will yield herbs and salads in variety in early spring and hasten 
the starting of summer crops. To the flower lover they are a real necessity for 
the carrying of many things through the winter, and few people indeed have 
ever fully developed the possibilities of pleasure possessed by an ordinasy glass- 
covered frame. 
COLD FRAMES. 
The function of a cold frame is to ward off cold winds, to keep 
the ground clear of snow, and in the spring to increase the feeble 
heat of the slanting sunbeams, and thus foster plant growth. 
The back 
board is usually twelve inches and the front eight inches wide. 
The construction of the cold frame is very simple. 
The two are connected by a tapered board twelve inches wide 
at one end and eight inches at the other. 
three by six (3x6) feet, and it takes a box of six by eight (6x8) 
inch glass to glaze three sash. We can furnish sash at $1.50 
each unglazed, or $3.25 each glazed. The framework can be 
readily made by a local carpenter or any one handy with tools; 
and when complete the frame is set in a sheltered, well-drained 
position, usually near the house. 
Mr. William Falconer, one of the foremost practical gardeners 
in the country, has written for us the following short article on 
raising seeds in a cold frame : 
«* 4 cold frame is simply a frame having sash, but no other 
means of heating. Fill 
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the frame with soil to F 
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HOTBEDS. 
A hotbed is acold frame placed upon a quantity of fermenting 
manure. The hotbed is usually made ready in February or 
March in the latitude of Philadelphia. In the preparation of 
the manure, it is best to collect the requisite amount from the 
horse stable, and make it into a compact heap, watering it if 
dry. 
when the heap should be turned, watering again if necessary, 
In a few days active fermentation will be in progress, 
shiking out the lumps. The aim is to induce an active and 
uniform fermentation of the whole mass, and to have it continue 
for some time after the soil is placed on it. . 
Select a well-drained spot, and make the pile of manure eight 
or nine feet wide by whatever length is necessary, with a depth 
of fifteen to eighteen inches; or a foot of soil may be dug out 
Place the 
Then put three or four inches of good soil uni- 
and filled in with manure, well tramped down. 
frame on it. 
formly over the surface. Some manure or soil can be thrown 
up against the outer boards, which will help to hold the heat. 
’ Put on the sash and 
Sfp = Se : 
keep tight for three or 
within 6 in. deep in front 
four days. There 
and Sin. or 9 in. at back; 
make shallow drills, 3 in. 
or din. apart, across the 
should be a thermom- 
eter kept in the hot- 
bed, and when the 
face of the soil in the 
temperature fallsto 75 
frame, and in these sow 
the seeds, covering 
them thinly and tamp- 
ing them gently; then 
water moderately through a fine rose. Now put on the sash, 
aud keep all snug and warm until the seedlings appear, when 
the sashes should be tilted up during the day to admit fresh air 
freely and make the plants sturdy. As the seedlings wax in 
strength, remove the sash both day and night, in fine weather, 
but replace it as a protection against wet, muggy or cold weather. 
As soon as the plants are big enough, transplant them into the 
open garden. In sowing in a cold frame, carefully observe that 
the kinds of plants are of somewhat the same nature, strength 
and time of germinating, When this is not the case, or there is 
any uncertainty about it, better sow in pots, pans or flats, and 
set these close together in the frame; as the seedlings appear 
in the pots or flats, remove these to the lightest, sunniest place 
in the frame, and the ungerminated ones keep by themselves. 
Afterwards asregards inuring to weather, pricking off and finally 
transplanting, treat as directed above in the matter of seed sown 
” 
in the frame. 
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Cross-SecTION OF A Temporary Horsep As ILLUSTRATED IN Buttetin No. 195, CorBett, 
Lureau or PLanr Inpvustry, U.S. Dept. oF AGRICULTURE. 
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Frame To Carry SasH oF Horsep or Cotp FRAME AS ILLUSTRATED IN BULLETIN No. 195, 
Corsetr, Bureau oF Piant INpustry, U. S. Derr. oF AGRICULTURE. 
degrees, seed may be 
sown with safety. The 
temperature in a_ hot- 
bed should not be al- 
lowed to go above 70 degrees in the day, nor below 50 at night. 
Mr. Wm. Falconer writes the following for us regarding hotbeds: 
“« A hotbed is like a cold frame, except that it is heated witha 
considerable depth of hot manure under the soil. Seeds may 
be sown in it in the same way as specified in the case of a cold 
frame, but it is safer for the amateur to sow in pots, pans or flats 
and set these in the hotbed than to sow in the earth bed of the 
hotbed. While a hotbed is new it is well to always keep a little 
chink of ventilation on to allow the discharge of ‘‘ steam’? 
or ammonia; if not, a damp mould will spread over the seed 
pots or the seedlings will rot off. Keep the sprouted seeds by 
themselves, and the pots of uns>routed ones by themselves, and 
give increased light and ventilation to the former. As regards 
hardening off and transplanting, treat as for cold frames. <A 
hotbed should be covered overhead with straw mats or carpet 
at night in cold weather to conserve the heat, but this covering 
should be removed in the daytime.”’ 
With a hotbed the 
almost any kind of vegetable 
amateur can start 
or flower 
seed. By sowing such vegetables as Egg 
Tomatoes, ete., and such 
Plant, Pepper, 
flower seeds as Heliotrope, Scarlet Sage, 
Vinca, Verbena, etc., along in March, it is 
possible to have nice stocky plants ready to 
set out as soon as the weather conditions 
are favorable, insuring early returns from 
the vegetables and a long season of bloom 
from the flowers. 
