14 De Ma PERRY =i) COSY DESERIPDIViE CATALOGUE 
Judicious Cultivation 
Not only should every weed be removed as soon as it appears, but the crust which forms 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. 
Mulching 
Most of the work outlined in the foregoing paragraph can be avoided and better results obtained by the 
use of Gator Hide Mulch paper. Read carefully page 12. ; 
Starting Plants Indoors 
Earlier crops of many kinds of vegetables may be obtained by planting the seeds early in boxes indoors and 
setting out the plants later after the weather has become warm and settled. Plants of such vegetables as 
tomato, pepper, egg plant, celery and often cucumber and melons are usually started in this way, also many 
flowering plants requiring a long season to bloom. Shallow wooden boxes three to four inches deep of a size 
convenient to handle are generally used for this purpose. 
The boxes should be filled with good garden soil preferably a light sandy loam and the rows planted about 
two inches apart. The box should be placed in a window where it will have plenty of light. Care should be 
taken to keep the soil moist. When the seedlings are about an inch high they should be transplanted to other 
boxes setting them at least two inches apart each way. Ifthe plants tend to become tall and spindling they 
should be moved to a cooler situation. Before being set in the open ground the plants should be gradually 
hardened off; to do this set the boxes outdoors on mild days covering them at night until they are able to stand 
the weather without damage. 
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 cover- 
ing it with the earth in which the plants are to grow. 
Heating Material 
The best heating material that is easily available is fresh horse manure, containing a liberal quantity of 
straw bedding. What is wanted in the hotbed 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 uni- 
form degree of fermentation and as soon as this is accomplished it is fit for use. 
The increasing difficulty of obtaining heating material for hotbeds has compelled many market gardeners 
to adopt a method of using artificial heat. This is done by substituting hot water coils for the manure and 
installing a small heater. A properly installed heating plant for the hotbed will be found more efficient and 
satisfactory and it is permanent. A small heating plant can be installed and operated at moderate cost. 
Sash 
Some gardeners use sash made especially for hotbeds 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 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 10 x 14, 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. 
Frame 
This may be made of sound one-inch lumber, 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. 
The Soil 
This should be light, rich, friable. Any considerable amount of clay in it is very objectionable. 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. 
