FOR YOUNG GARDENERS. 
43 
soil have fallen to 90° F. begin using the bed. If the 
weather is cold, bank the outside of the frame with strawy 
manure. For low plants, like lettuce and radishes, the 
soil may be as near as six inches to the glass. The soil 
will always settle from two to six inches. 
The hotbed is generally started in February or March, 
but can be started earlier by using more manure. It must 
always be in a well drained location. 
THE CARE OF THE BED. 
The hotbed needs good and regular care. It is the 
farmer’s greenhouse and in it can be grown a large vari¬ 
ety of vegetables or flowers. After the 1st of April the 
hotbed should generally be watered early every pleasant 
morning, and whenever dry before then. If the weather 
is cold the bed should be watered in the middle of the day, 
when the sash can be lifted for a few minutes. 
Much care is needed in ventilating the bed as the de¬ 
composing manure will use up the air, and plants cannot 
make good growth without fresh air. The sun, also, 
causes intense heat on fair days. Hotbeds should have 
a little air on fair days even in winter. Generally how T - 
ever, keep the temperature, during bright days, between 
6o° and 8o°, and cloudy days between 50° and 70°. A 
temperature of 90° or ioo°, with the sash partly open, 
would do no harm, while a temperature of 75 in sunlight, 
with the bed closed tight, might do harm. O11 cold and 
cloudy days only open a very little, for a very few minutes 
in the middle of the day. A thermometer should always be 
in every bed. 
Cotton Shutters are cheap and nearly or quite as 
good as sash after the danger of heavy frost is past. 
They are made by tacking cheese cloth over a frame made 
the same size as the sash. These frames are easily made 
from planed furring strips. Cold nights the hotbeds 
should always be covered with mats. In winter, shutters 
should be placed over the mats. The bed without (heat) 
manure is called a cold frame. 
