S8 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



heat best. The preparation of the manure is very simple. It 

 should be gathered together in a pile, as fresh as may be, 

 when if moist it will generally heat, no matter how cold the 

 weather. If it does not start to heat readily, a few buckets of hot 

 water poured into the center of the pile will often start it. When 

 it gets nicely started the pile should be turned over, throwing the 

 outside manure into the center of the pile and breaking up all 

 the lumps. In a few days it will heat again and will then be 

 ready to go into the frames, but do not put it into the frames 

 until it is heating thoroughly. Clear horse manure heats too 

 violently and should be mixed with about its own bulk of leaves 

 or fine straw. The leaves used to keep frost out of the frames 

 during winter now come in to good advantage for mixing with the 

 manure. Of course, if the manure gathered has considerable 

 straw in it this admixture is not necessary. 



The way of putting manure in the frames calls for some 

 little care. It should be broken up very fine, mixed with leaves 

 or other material and spread as evenly as possible over the 

 whole bed, taking special pains to have the frame well filled in 

 the center, as it settles there much quicker than at the sides. 

 As the manure is put in it should be packed down quite firmly by 

 the feet, taking great care to have it evenly packed throughout. 

 Now put on the sash and cover until it heats well all through 

 the bed. If it does not start to heating quickly enough, a few 

 buckets of hot water should be adderJ. When well warmed 

 through, level off the top of the manure and cover with soil six 

 inches deep. This soil should have been prepared in the autumn 

 and protected from frost by mulching or put under the leaves in 

 the bed; but if this provision has not been made the soil may be 

 searched for in cellars, under strawstacks, in the woods under 

 leaves or elsewhere, or the soil may be thawed out by the use 

 of sash and manure. As this latter process is tedious all experi- 

 enced growers prepare their soil in autumn. 



After the soil is put on it should be left until it is warmed 

 through and the weed seeds near the surface have germinated. 

 Then remove the sashes and make the surface fine with a rake 

 and the bed is ready to receive the seed. A hotbed made up 

 in this way in March will continue to give out heat five or six 

 weeks, after which it will be practically a cold frame, but since 



