20 



D. M. FERRY & CO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



FOURTH— Such a condition of soil that the ascending stem can easily penetrate it and the young roots speedily find 

 suitable 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. 



* j. • g-H «.. ,. Not only should every weed be removed as soon as it appears, but the crust which forms 



JUCllClOUS Cultivation after 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. 

 The yield and quality of vegetables have often been decidedly 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 Hotbeds 



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 hotbed and 

 its construction is so simple and the expense so slight that every 

 garden should have one. A hotbed proper not only protects 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. 



U m.* KM #. • 1 The b es t heating material that is 

 rleating Material easily available is fresh 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. 



q i Some gardeners use sash made especially for hotbeds 

 oasn and glazed with small lights cut from odds and ends and 

 so furnished at very low rates. Such sash can usually be pro- 

 cured 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 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. 



■-pi p This may be made of sound one-inch lumber, 



1 lie r rame 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. 



npi q .i This should be light, rich, friable. Any con- 

 1 lie SOU siderable amount of clay in it is very objec- 

 tionable. If possible, it should be unfrozen when put into 

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

 fall before and cover the pile with enough coarse manure 

 or straw to keep out the frost. 



1V>I 1 * 4-1% H A ' rhis re Q u i res careful attention as 

 making tne oea 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 climate, 

 season and the kind 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 evenly distributed over the surface 

 of 'the bed and carefully leveled. The earth should not be 

 shoveled or dumped in one or more places in the bed and 

 then leveled; if this is done uneven settling of the bed in- 

 variably results. 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 until 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 hotbeds 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 success are a steady 

 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 transplanting into the 

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

 difficulties in the way of securing them, prominent among 

 which is overheating the air under a bright sun. 



Without experience one would scarcely believe how quickly 

 the temperature inside of a well built hotbed 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 tempera- 

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

 the sash is left open ever so little. A rush of cold air driven 

 over the plants is far more injurious than the same tempera- 

 ture when the air is still. Again, in cloudy weather, a bed 

 will go several days without watering, but will dry up in an 

 hour when open on a sunny day. 



Ap i i p is a simple construction of boards 



LOld-rrame for wintering over young plants, 

 Cabbage, Lettuce, Cauliflower, etc., and is also useful 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 x-aked 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 com- 

 mon 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. 



p** | . In transplanting, the main points to be 



1 ransplanting regarded are : care in taking up the 

 plants so as to avoid injury to the roots, setting out as soon as 

 possible to prevent the air coming in contact with the roots, set- 

 ting firmly so as to enable the plant to take a secure hold of the 

 soil and shading to prevent the hot sun from withering and 

 blighting the leaves. Where a rank or soft growth of tops has 

 been made in hotbed it is frequently desirable to trim off some 

 of the larger leaves before taking up to transplant; this will 

 retard too rapid evaporation of moisture from the plant and 

 usually, will prevent wilting. 



In transplanting from a hotbed, 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. 



\\T j. • Tne lbest time to water plants is early in the 



W atering morning or in the evening. 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 watering 

 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 

 before it becomes so very dry as to cake or crack. 



