10 



D. M, FERRY & CO., DETROIT, MICH. 



Fourth— Such a condition of soil that the ascending stem can easily penetrate it, and the young roots speedily find suit- 

 able food. We can usually secure this by thorough preparation of the ground, and taking care never to sow fine seeds when 

 the ground is wet. Occasionally a heavy or long continued rain followed by a bright sun will so bake and crust the surface 

 that it is impossible for the young plant to find its way through it, or a few days of strong wind will so dry the surface that 

 the young plants will be killed. In such cases the only remedy is to plant again. 



liirlSriAiic CtiWt\mitf\n ^^^ ^^^^ should every weed be removed as soon as it appears, but the crust which forms after 

 .fUUIV.IVU9 vuiiiYaiivii a rain should be broken up and the ground stirred as soon as it is dry enough to permit it. The 

 more frequently and deeply the soil is stirred while the plants are young, the better, but as they develop and the roots occupy 

 the ground, cultivation should be shallower until it becomes a mere stirring of the surface. We have seen hundreds of acres 

 of vegetables where the yield and quality have been materially lowered by injudiciously deep and close cultivation after the 

 roots of the plants had fully occupied the ground. A very small garden, well cultivated and cared for, will give larger 

 returns and be in every way more satisfactory than a much larger one poorly prepared and neglected. 



How to Build and Manage Hot Beds 



For early vegetables, some provision for starting certain 

 plants earlier than can be done in the open air is desirable; 

 for this purpose nothing is better than a good hot-bed, and its 

 construction is so simple and the expense so slight that every 

 garden should have one. A. hot-bed proper not only pro- 

 tects the plants from the cold, but supplies bottom heat. By 

 this term the gardener means that the soil is constantly kept 

 several degrees warmer than the air above, that being the 

 condition, so far as heat is concerned, which is most favorable 

 for rapid and vigorous growth, and gardeners usually secure 

 it by making a compact pile of some fermenting material and 

 covering it with the earth in which the plants are to grow. 



V\a^^\r\€i MalArial The best heating material that is 

 IKSdUn^ /ndlCiridl easily available is /res/^ horse ma- 

 nure, containing a liberal quantity of straw bedding. Such 

 manure, if thrown into a loose pile, will heat violently and 

 unevenly and will soon become cold. What is wanted in the 

 hot-bed is a steady and moderate but lasting heat. To secure 

 this, the manure should be forked over, shaken apart, and if 

 dry, watered and allowed to stand a few days and then be 

 forked over again, piled and allowed to heat a second time, 

 the object being to get the whole mass into a uniform degree 

 of fermentation, and as soon as this is accomplished it is fit 

 for use. 



C^^U Some gardeners use sash made especially for hot- 

 oaMl beds and glazed with small lights cut from odds 

 and ends and so furnished at very low rates. Such sash can 

 usually be procured in any of our large cities, and costs much 

 less than if made to order. For garden use, however, we 

 much prefer a smaller sash that can be easily handled, and the 

 use of larger and better glass. We would recommend that 

 for home gardens the sash be about two and one-half by four 

 or five feet, and that the glass be not less than 10x14, laid 

 with not more than one quarter inch lap. In giving the order 

 to one unaccustomed to the work, it would be well to state 

 what they are to be used for, and that they need to be made 

 like skylight sash. 



TUp FrAmp '^'^'^ ™^y ^^ made of sound one-inch lum- 

 lllc I laillc ijer, the back twelve to fourteen inches 

 high, the front ten to twelve. It should be well fitted to the 

 sash so as to leave as little opening as possible and yet allow 

 the sash to be easily moved up and down, even when the 

 frame is quite wet. 



Th^ CfiJl This should be light, rich, friable. Any con- 

 I lie iJUII siderable amount of clay in it is very objection- 

 able. If possible, it should be unfrozen when put into the 

 bed ; for this reason it is much better to prepare it the fall be- 

 fore, and cover the pile with enough coarse manure or straw 

 to keep out the frost. 



M;)kin^ fhp RpH '^^'^ requires careful attention, as 

 iviarviii^ VWK, Lfcu future success depends largely upon 

 the manner in which this work is done. Having cleared away 

 snow and ice, build a rectangular bed one foot larger each 

 way than the frame to be used, carefully shaking out and 

 spreading each forkful and repeatedly treading down the 

 manure so as to make the bed as uniform as possible in solid- 

 ity, composition and moisture. It is of the utmost impor- 

 tance that this shaking apart and evenly pressing down of 

 the manure should be carefully and thoroughly done; unless 

 it is, one portion will heat quicker than the other, and the 

 soil will settle unevenly, making it impossible to raise good 

 plants. The proper depth of the bed will vary with the cli- 

 mate, season and the kiud of plants to be raised. A shallow 

 bed will quickly give a high temperature which will soon 

 subside; a deeper one, if well made, will heat more moder- 

 ately, but continue much longer. For general purposes, a 

 bed about two feet deep will be best. 



The bed completed, the frame and sash may be put on and 

 fresh manure carefully packed around the outside to the very 

 top (if the weather is at all severe, this outside banking should 

 be replenished as it settles). The bed should then be allowed 

 to stand with the sash partially open for a day or two to allow 

 the steam and rank heat to pass off. The earth should then 

 be put on and carefully leveled. Care should be taken that the 

 soil is dry and friable. If wet or frozen soil must be used, it 

 should be placed in small piles imtil well dried out before 

 spreading. The heat at first will be quite violent, frequently 



rising to 120 degrees; but it soon subsides, and when it recedes 

 to 90 degrees the seed may be planted. The importance of 

 using dry soil and allowing the first rank heat to pass off is 

 very great. Every season thousands of hot-beds fail of good 

 results from these causes, and seedsmen are blamed for fail- 

 ure resulting from overheat, or wet, soggy soil. 



Management of the Bed S '^TtV^:.f?\ 



uniform degree of heat and moisture; keeping the soil at all 

 times a few degrees warmer than the air, and the careful 

 " hardening off " (by exposure to the air and diminishing the 

 supply of water) of the plants before tiansplanting into the 

 open air. Simple as these may seem to be, there are many 

 difficulties in the way of securing them, prominent among 

 which are overheating the air under a bright sun. Without 

 experience one would scarcely believe how quickly the tem- 

 perature inside of a well-built hot-bed will rise to 90 or 100 

 degrees upon a still, sunny day, even when the temperature 

 outside is far below freezing, or how quickly the temperature 

 will fall to that outside, if upon a windy, cloudy day the sash 

 is left open ever so little. A rush of cold air di-iven over the 

 plants is far more injurious than the same temperature when 

 the air is still. Again, in cloudy weather, a bed will go sev- 

 eral days without watering, but will dry up in an hour when 

 open on a sunny day. The details of management, however, 

 must be learned by experience, but may be easily acquired by 

 one who gives the matter careful attention, keeping constant- 

 ly in mind the essentials given above. 



Af nIH FrAmP '^ ^ simple construction of boards for 

 V/UIU I lailic wintering over young plants. Cabbage, 

 Lettuce, Cauliflower, Brocoli, etc., and is also extremely use- 

 ful to protect and harden off plants from the greenhouse or 

 hot-bed before fully exposing them in the open air. 



Select a dry, southern exposure, form a frame from four to 

 six feet wide and as long as required. The back should be 

 fourteen to eighteen inches high, and the front eight to 

 twelve, with a cross-tie every three feet. The frame may be 

 covered with sash or cloth. Seeds of the vegetables to be 

 wintered, sown in open border early in September, will be 

 ready to plant in cold frames about the last of October. The 

 soil should be well prepared and smoothly raked before 

 planting. Admit air freely on pleasant days, but keep close 

 in severe weather. 



These frames are particularly useful in the south, and may 

 be covered more cheaply with cloth shades than by sash. 

 The shades are made as follows: Make light but strong 

 wooden frames to fit over the bed, and of a width to receive 

 some common brand of cotton cloth. The cloth may be 

 unbleached and should be stretched over and securely tacked 

 to the frames. We have found that Plant-Bed Cloth, which 

 we have for sale, is superior to any ordinary cloth for this 

 purpose. 



TrAncniAnf in<^ •'■^ transplanting, the main points to be 

 1 1 aildpiaill,lll^ regarded are: care in taking up the 

 plants so as to avoid injury to the roots, planting firmly so as 

 to enable the plant to take a secure hold of the soil, reducing 

 the top to prevent evaporation, and shading to prevent the 

 hot sun from withering and blighting the leaves. In trans- 

 planting from a hot-bed, harden the plants by letting them 

 get quite dry a day or two before, but give an abundance of 

 water a few hours before they are taken out. It is most apt 

 to be successful if done just at evening, or immediately before 

 or during the first part of a rain, about the worst time being 

 just after a rain, when the ground being wet it is impossible 

 to sufficiently press it about the plant without its baking 

 hard. If water is used at all it should be used freely, and the 

 wet surface immediately covered with dry soil. 



U/olorirK^ The best time to water plants is between sun- 

 YYdlcrill^ set and sunrise. Water may be given to the 

 roots at any time, but should never be sprinkled over the 

 leaves while they are exposed to bright sunshine. If water- 

 ing a plant has been commenced, continue to supply it as it 

 is needed, or more injury than good will result from what 

 has been given. One copious watering is better than many 

 scanty sprinklings. The ground should always be stirred 

 with a hoe or rake as soon after watering as it can be done 

 without making the soil muddy. 



