176 



GARDEN GUIDE 



Growing Plants for Setting Out 



Hotbeds and coldframes are really miniature gardens under 

 glass and are highly esteemed by the progressive gardener. The hot- 

 bed is artificially heated from beneath, usually by a deep layer of 

 clean stable manure, while in the coldframe the only heat is that 

 suppKed by the sun's rays. Frames and hotbeds are fully discussed 

 in Chapter XXV. 



If you utiKze your frames to advantage, your first plantings of 

 Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Beets, Onions, Tomatoes, Peppers, 

 Egg Plants, Lima Beans, Corn, Cucumbers, Melons and Squash will 

 be well started by the time it is warm enough to plant them out of 

 doors. 



If you have only coldframes, a few plants may be started in the 

 house in a warm, sunny window to be put into the frames when they 

 are large enough to transplant. A supply of suitable soil should be 

 brought indoors in the Fall and held for this purpose. Take a box 

 18 in. by 24 in. and 4 in. deep and bore a few holes in the bottom for 

 drainage. Mix the soil with well-rotted manure and sand and fill the 

 box to within one-half inch of the top. Sow the seed thinly in shallow 

 rows and firm the smface. 



In making a hotbed begin a week or ten days before you expect to 

 make your fu"st sowing of seed. Procure horse manure that has not yet 

 fermented, allowing one-sixth of a cord to each sash to be heated. 

 Unless the manure has some considerable straw or bedding mixed in 

 with it, it will be better to add one-fourth of leaves to the manure when 

 it is piled up. Build it up in a square heap, tramping it down solidly as 

 it is built. After three or four days, fork it over smd restack, putting 

 what was the outside of the heap in the center. Sprinkle with water 

 any parts of it that may seem dry. Fork the heap over again within 

 three or four days. In this way the whole mass may be made to fer- 



