1902 
125 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Care of Hotbeds.— A Michigan corre¬ 
spondent inquires: Is there any danger of 
the manure heating too rapidly or becom¬ 
ing too hot? If so, what is the remedy? 
I think you are too indefinite as to amount 
of hotbed necessary for a given purpose. 
I have two acres of ground which I desire 
to plant to some crop new to me. If I 
decide on cabbage, how large a hotbed will 
it require to grow sufficient plants for the 
two acres? What variety of seed should I 
sow? When shall I sow it, and how long 
should the plants remain in tne hotbed? 
Should they be transplanted before setting 
in the field? If instead of cabbage I de¬ 
cide on cauliflower, celery or tomatoes, the 
same questions apply. 
The same writer states that with the 
plain directions previously given he can 
do all the mechanical work, even to 
making the cloth covers, which he pre¬ 
fers to do instead of buying. There will 
be little danger of the manure heating 
too rapidly, if directions as to filling the 
bed are carefully followed. (See pre¬ 
vious article.) However, after the soil 
is placed in, and the bed is covered, al¬ 
low it to remain, with occasional ven¬ 
tilating, until by thrusting the bulb of a 
thermometer into the soil, you have a 
fairly steady heat of 80 or 85 degrees. 
You can then sow the seed with entire 
safety. With experience in the work, 
the thermometer is unnecessary, but it 
is safe to use without previous knowl¬ 
edge. If glass covers are used the beds 
will require some ventilation on all 
bright sunny days, the amount of course 
depending on the wind and outside tem¬ 
perature. Ventilating is the remedy, 
and experience will determine these 
matters as the work goes on. For ven¬ 
tilating, raise the sash much or little, 
depending on the heat and weather, and 
always at the end or side opposite the 
wind. The soil should be reasonably 
moist when the seeds are sown, so that 
the beds will not require watering until 
the plants are up; then water frequent¬ 
ly, but stir the soil to avoid baking or 
crusting. Mats will be required both 
for protection from sudden cold, and 
later for shading. These may be bought 
ready for use, but they can be very ser¬ 
viceably and cheaply made right at 
home, and avoid so much cash outlay. 
Take two thicknesses of burlap the size 
of the beds, pad between, with an even 
layer of straw not too thick, and with a 
darning needle and twine or string tie 
through as comfortables are tied. These 
will be found cheap and durable for the 
purpose. 
If the inquirer decides on cabbage he 
will not need to start the plants in the 
hotbed unless growing for the early 
market, which would not be advisable 
in his locality. Plant late varieties, un¬ 
less it be in a small way, for early home 
market, as the early southern crop will 
glut our markets before we can grow 
them. Prepare a seed bed in the open 
ground, rich and well worked up. Sow 
about May 20 in drills 12 inches apart, 
or broadcast not too thickly, to make 
sure of a sufficient supply of the best 
plants, so that in setting all culls may 
be rejected; sow from one-half to three- 
fourths of a pound for two acres. If 
sown in drills they can, of course, be 
cultivated and thinned, which is an ad¬ 
vantage, and the larger leaves can be 
clipped off at any time, which I think 
always is a safeguard when planting 
time comes. As soon as the plants ap¬ 
pear above ground, dust them thorough¬ 
ly with air-slaked lime while wet with 
dew. It will be a preventive against 
the ravages of the Cabbage flea, which 
might otherwise cause trouble. A very 
practical and thoroughly successful way 
to handle the cabbage ground will be to 
spread on a heavy coat of manure early 
in May. Plow just deep enough to cover 
the manure and keep the surface well 
and finely worked, until planting time, 
which will be in the inquirer’s locality 
about June 25 to July 1. When ready 
for planting out, plow deeply and fit 
the ground thoroughly, mark off rows 
at least 3% feet apart and set plants 
2*4 feet in the rows. In this way the 
seed bed can be made right in the field 
after the first plowing, and when setting 
out the seed bed may be left until the 
remainder of the ground is set, then 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pull remaining plants and plow the bed. 
This plan saves labor of fitting extra 
ground for seed bed, and is practiced by 
many large growers. A thoroughly 
good strain of the late Flat Dutch will 
be as reliable as any. The Holland is a 
good shipper and keeper, and while 
smaller heads, they can be set some¬ 
what closer than larger varieties. It 
might be good practice to try both sorts. 
It will hardly pay to transplant late 
varieties. 
Do not use the hotbed for celery, but 
rather shallow boxes, or finely prepared 
beds in open ground. Cover the seed 
shallow, and give plenty of water until 
the seeds germinate, and after the 
plants are well established thin out and 
transplant to two or three inches apart. 
Cauliflower, to a large extent, would be 
an. unsafe crop without previous experi' 
ence. The general culture would be the 
same as for cabbage, but the tying up 
and bleaching would require experi¬ 
ence. If tomatoes are grown, start them 
as soon as April 1 in the hotbed, sow in 
drills four inches apart, and when the 
second set of leaves appears transplant 
them right in the bed about two inches 
apart. When the plants begin to crowd 
each other transplant into other beds 
and give double or more as much space 
as at the first transplanting. A 6x12 
bed will hold up to the time of second 
transplanting, from 2,000 to 2,500 plants, 
which set in the open field 4x5 feet 
apart, which is close enough for stand¬ 
ard varieties, would set about one acre, 
or to be exact, at those distances 2,178 
plants would set an acre. 
er than discourage by piling up un¬ 
necessary expenses. Painting the planks 
is all right, decorating in fancy designs 
if one chooses is allowable, but I would 
not recommend either for any kind of 
work except in “gardening for plea¬ 
sure.” Now the planks will cost just 
twice as much as the boards, and bring 
no better results. Here in this neck o’ 
woods, the hotbeds are used in one way 
or another nearly the whole season 
through. When the earliest plants are 
out the cucumbers go in, and are grown 
right in the boxes in quantities. Fol¬ 
lowing this they are taken down and 
used for bleaching celery, and later on, 
are many of them put up again to ripen 
off the belated tomatoes. Thus it is 
that very little time is allowed for rest¬ 
ing away in storage. It is very con¬ 
venient to put them up so they can be 
taken down, and the method described 
is very good indeed. A more simple 
plan, however, is to fasten with hooks 
and staples. Excavating for beds is far 
too laborious and costly for extensive 
operations, and is entirely unnecessary 
for even one or two beds unless it is 
utilized for a cold frame for storing 
through the Winter, and then it should 
be planked or boarded the entire depth. 
Setting up on posts gives sufficient depth 
of manure for all practical purposes and 
entirely does away with the unmitigated 
nuisance of trying to keep the trenches 
covered all Winter, or else digging out 
a solid bed of ice and snow when wanted 
for use. J. e. MORSE. 
Michigan. 
No Money Wanted 
Simply Tell Me the Book 
You Need. 
Please write a postal to know what I 
spent a lifetime in learning. It is a way 
to get well—often the only way. 
With the book I will send an order on 
your druggist for six bottles of Dr. 
Shoop’s Restorative; and he will let you 
test it a month. If satisfied, the cost is 
$5.50. If it fails, I will pay your drug¬ 
gist myself. 
Think what that means. On any oth¬ 
er remedy such an offer would bankrupt 
the maker. But I have furnished my 
remedy to over half a million people on 
juSt those terms; and 39 out of each 40 
have paid for it, because they were 
cured. When it fails not a penny is 
wanted. 
My success comes from strengthening 
the inside nerves. I bring back the pow¬ 
er that operates the vital organs. Nerve 
power alone can overcome this weak¬ 
ness. I pity the sick one who lets pre¬ 
judice keep him from getting my book. 
Simply state which 
book you want, and ad¬ 
dress Or. Shoop, Box 
670, Racine, Wis. 
Book No. 1 on Oyspepsla, 
Book No. 2 on the Heart, 
Book No. 3 on the Kidneys, 
Book No. 4 for Women, 
Book No. 5 for men (sealed), 
Book No. 6 on Rheumatism. 
MUd cases, not chronic, are often cured by one or 
two bottles. At aU druggists. 
Large Hay Crops. 
TOOLS USED BY 
Rhubarb. —G. S. W.. Illinois, asks: 
“Will it be advisable to purchase rhu¬ 
barb roots and transplant them early in 
the Spring, and take up the whole root 
for forcing next Winter?” Buy the 
roots if possible at any time, but leave 
them undisturbed until Fall. Purchase 
with the privilege of letting them re¬ 
main until required for the cellar, but 
do not check the roots by removing in 
the Spring. Forcing rhubarb is certain¬ 
ly a profitable business. The forcing 
season is as yet only just beginning, but 
a nearby gardener on January 25 mar¬ 
keted one load of 263 dozen at an aver¬ 
age price of 50 cents per dozen, or 
$131.50 for the load. Get ready for next 
year is my advice. It will pay to in¬ 
vestigate the business at all events. 
Cold Facts About Hotbeds.—A. G. 
G.’s article, page 66, is no doubt entirely 
practical for the more fortunate who 
were born at, or have already reached 
the top of the ladder. Most of us, how¬ 
ever, have to gain the top round by 
round, and the wreckage all along the 
way far too often points out the burial 
place of undertakings too large for the 
bank account of the promoter of the 
project. Less than a mile away resides 
a friend who a few years ago started on 
16 acres of ground with no buildings 
whatever except a good-sized debt. For 
several years, tools, horses, in fact 
everything he had to do with, were of 
the very cheapest that could be picked 
up. To-day, with good buildings, horses 
and tools of the best in abundance, and 
a second farm of 40 acres, his property 
would assess at many thousands of dol¬ 
lars. Last Winter he forced and sold 
over $500 worth of rhubarb in a shed 
made of old boards and straw, and he 
could not have done better in a crystal 
palace. Six years ago another man 
started, and nothing short of the most 
expensive outfit in wagons, teams and 
tools would answer. Three years ago 
he sold what he had left, and is now 
working for the other man by the 
month. I could furnish some home¬ 
made illustrations along these lines, but 
content myself with advising to start 
new enterprises slowly if need be, but 
start safely. But let us see about the 
“cold facts.” As to laying the glass by 
the method described, this is by no 
means a “recent” method, but is so old 
that many very enterprising practical 
gardeners have decided not to continue 
its use. Butting the glass end to end, 
of course, has its adherents, but repair¬ 
ing a break for instance, up in the cen¬ 
ter of a sash, will convince most people 
that lapping is preferable. Both meth¬ 
ods are open to the public; prove them 
and decide. My experience satisfies me 
both to use and recommend the methods 
as I gave them. As to the ready-for-use 
cloth covers, while in close touch with 
many of the largest seedsmen in the 
country, I have not been able to buy as 
cheaply as I could make them, and per¬ 
sonally I prefer the homemade. Then, 
many are far removed from seedsmen 
who handle them, and would go without 
rather than buy from a distance. 
The plank hotbeds are really very nice 
if one has the means to pay for the en¬ 
tirely unnecessary outlay. I could have 
told all about them, as also the still 
more expensive brick walls, but my de¬ 
sire was to encourage the people and get 
them started in the practical way, rath- 
Soft 
Harness 
You can make your har¬ 
ness as soft as a glove 
and as tough as wire by 
using EUREKA Har- 
nom Oil. You can 
lengthen Its life—make it 
lust twice as long as it 
ordinarily would. 
EUREKA 
Harness Oil 
makes a poor looking har¬ 
ness like new. Made of 
pure, heavy bodied oil, es¬ 
pecially prepared to with¬ 
stand the weather. 
Sold everywhere 
in cans—all sizes. 
Made by STANDARD OIL CO. 
rt 
!!} 
Ill ^ 
[price 
1 $5££ 
MAKES BLACKSMITH 
BILLS SMALLER” 
MONEY RE = 
FUNDED IF 
NOT AS RE= 
PRESENTED 
fAOMUH FQgfcEj 
GUARANTEED 
TO BE AS LARGE 
AND DO AS MUCH 
WORK AS ANY 
#IO°-°F0RGE MADE 
qver40 car 
LOADS SHIPPED 
DIRECT TO 
FARMERS IN ALL 
li PARTS OF THE 
U.S. and CANADA 
LAST YEAR . 
— jfl**’ 
M-Welda 4,-chWa6°" 
WILL LAST A LIFE TIME 
I Off March 20,1902, we 
ljJJCLyIcII vl 11 Cl wi'l offer this Forge com¬ 
plete, ready for use, at ^ J each, we also have 
anvils, vises, tongs, etc. Write to-day. Send 
stamp for catalogue and testimonials. 
THK C. A S. tOKGK WORKS, Saranac, Mich. 
GEORGE M. CLARK. 
Clark’s Double-Action 
Cutaway Harrow 
will easily more 15,1X10tons 
of earth one foot In a day. 
Clark’s 8-foot leveling: ami 
Smoothing; Harrow; with it the 
surface can bo made as truo as A 
urn 
Clark’s Sulky Disk Plow. The 
*-3l’’ Plow turns a furrow 4 to 11 
Inches deep by 10 to 19 inches wide. 
J. H. HALE'S 
Favorite Orchard Tools. 
Clark’s California Sr. 
Orchard Plow and 
Harrow, 
plows a furrow three feet 
wide, six feet to the right of the pole. 
Clark’s Extension AG 
Cutaway Harrow, madej 
In 12 sizes, by the 
THE CUTAWAY HARROW C0„ Higganum, Ct. 
Send for Circulars. 
it 
of the 
Corn- 
__ field.” 
Corn, Bean and Pea Planter 
and Fertilizer Distributor. 
KING 
Strong, 
Durable, 
Easy Draft, 
Easily Handled 
Fully 
Guaranteed. 
For planting Field, Ensilage or F odder Corn, Broom 
Corn, Itouim, Peas, Sugar Beets, Buckwheat, etc. 
Drops the seed in hills or drills. Will plant corn and 
beans at Ihesame time. Will put pumpkins or squash 
In with the corn. Plants 4%, 9.12, 18, 24 , 36 and 72 Inches 
apart. Distributes wet ordrv fertilizer at the rate of 25 
to 700 lbs. per acre. Equipped with a new and improved 
row marker. Agents wanted In till new territory. 
Catalog, special terms, etc., free. 
BELCHER 8c TAYLOR A. T. CO., 
Box 75., Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
No. 6 
Iron Age 
| Combined 
Double 
I end Single 
Wheel 
Hoe 
| Hill and 
Drill 
I Seeder 
Iron Age 
No, U 
Iron Age 
Wheel Plow 
and Cultivator 
t We show a few 
Jof the famous 
Iron Age farm 
and garden implements that have grown 
in popularity for half a century. Every 
^one reduces the cost of the crop, 
saves time, trouble, and work. 
They were first 
in the field 
and are still 
first in favor. Write and learn what 
they will sa mq. you. 
The new Iron Age Book, full 
of interest for every farmer 
and gardener, is Free. 
BATEMAN MFG. CO. 
Box 102 Grenloch, N. J. 
