HOUSE AND GARDEN 
February, 1910 j 
deeper growing root crops 
require the deeper bed. The 
soil should be rich and soft 
and friable—good garden soil 
with a mixture of sand is best. 
Put the sash on the bed 
and let it heat up. It will 
be hot for three or four days 
— much too hot for any 
planting. Keep a thermom¬ 
eter in it and do not plant 
until it registers 90 0 F. or less. 
As the plants must remain 
in the bed for two months it 
is necessary to thin out the 
seedlings to make room, 
instead of transplanting to 
more commodious quarters. 
This should be done as soon 
as they appear in order to 
give the ones spared plenty 
of room to develop, right 
from the start. 
Water with a sprinkler, 
keeping the soil in that con¬ 
dition described in the November Begin¬ 
ner’s Garden — that is, just moist enough 
to crumble apart slowly after being 
squeezed in the hand. Be sure that the 
sash is always in place after you have 
tended the bed—forgetting to replace it 
will result in plant tragedy — and ven¬ 
tilate on warm days by raising it ever 
so little or slipping it down if there is 
no wind; do this only in the middle of 
the day, between 11.30 and 1.30 how¬ 
ever, when the sun is shining directly on 
the glass. 
Till the soil and do exactly as you 
would with plants growing anywhere in 
the garden—only do not keep the sash 
off for any length of time, Reach under 
to do the work. Nasty little green things 
that look like lice will probably appear—■ 
beastly, soft, smushy aphids they are. 
They revel in hotbeds, but a solution 
made of \ pound of white soap dissolved 
in a little boiling water and then reduced 
in strength by adding 5 gallons of water, 
used tepid in a sprayer, will make short 
work of them. They will come again, 
no doubt—but vigilance and more soap 
spray, and then vigilance, will save the 
crop from their devastating armies. 
Fortunately they die easily—almost as 
easily as they come. They are often on 
the under side of leaves and unsuspected 
until the leaf curls—and then unseen 
because of their color. Keep a sharp 
watch for them. 
A mat of straw or several thicknesses 
of burlap should be provided to cover 
the sash on cold nights —and it is seldom 
wise to build the bed before the last week 
of February or the early part of March. 
If ready by March ioth'you will find it 
early enough for all practical purposes— 
and the plants in it will be big fellows 
by the time the ground is warm enough 
outside to receive them. 
Unless the space it occupies is needed 
during the summer the bed may be left 
and used for a coldframe in the fall, for 
lettuce or other salad plants. 
The Hotbed 
E VERY beginner wishes 
to begin just as soon as 
possible—and so, because a 
hotbed will advance the sea¬ 
son anywhere from two 
months to ten weeks and be¬ 
cause the last of February is 
the time to build hotbeds, it 
seems a very appropriate time 
for the beginner to learn 
how to make and manage 
one. There is absolutely no 
trick in it; plain, simple direc¬ 
tions, plainly and simply fol¬ 
lowed, will bring, even to the 
greenest and most untried, 
success — so proceed without 
misgivings. 
A hotbed is really a forc¬ 
ing house on a very small 
scale — a place where plants 
are grown out of season by 
means of heat artificially sup¬ 
plied. This heat may be carried under¬ 
neath the bed by steam or hot water 
pipes, but that is the bothersome and ex¬ 
pensive way; or it may be furnished by 
placing the bed upon a mound of fer¬ 
menting manure. This is the easiest 
way. 
Fresh manure from the stables of 
grain-fed horses, mixed with one-third 
bedding straw—this lengthens the heat¬ 
ing period —should first be piled in the 
protected spot chosen for the bed’s 
location — a place where the north winds 
cannot reach. If the manure is dry 
sprinkle it with tepid water to start decom¬ 
position. 
Steam will begin to rise from the pile 
in from three to five days. As soon as it 
appears have it well worked over, turn¬ 
ing the outside inside and bringing the 
inside to the surface—then let it alone 
to warm up again. This will take two or 
three days more — the steam will indicate 
when it is ready—and then the work may 
proceed. 
Spread the manure evenly over an 
area large enough to give a full two-foot 
margin all around outside the sash or 
sashes. Make it 18 inches deep—this for 
the latitude of New York city; have it 
proportionately deeper and broader in 
colder localities — and pack it firmly. 
On this flat pile set the frame to carry 
the sash. 
This frame is a bottomless and topless 
box made of two-inch planks; it should 
slope on top from a height of about 12 
inches at the front to 18 or 24 inches at the 
back, with the sides slanted to conform 
to the slope. Its ground dimensions 
are regulated by the size of the sash it is 
to have as its top or covering—so, as 
a matter of fact, the first thing to do 
in making a hotbed is to get the sash. 
Any old sash will do, whatever its 
shape or size. Glazed for a window, it 
will doubtless leak when put to this more 
trying use, but if it is reasonably tight 
the plants under it will not suffer. Lack¬ 
ing a discarded sash, regulation hotbed 
sash will of course be necessary, but they 
are not expensive. They are glazed 
differently however from window sash — 
and the way of it ought to be among the 
gardener’s accomplishments, for break¬ 
age is sure to occur. 
Their bars run lengthwise only as you 
will see from the illustration, and are 
“rabbeted” to receive the glass. Spread 
soft putty along this rabbet, then, start¬ 
ing at the bottom of the sash, press the 
first pane down and into the putty; 
fasten it with brads—the glazing points 
are not strong enough. Let it lap onto 
the wood of the bottom rail half an inch, 
forming a watershed, and lap each 
succeeding pane onto the preceding one 
half an inch in the same way, as shingles 
are overlapped upon a roof. A brad 
under each lower corner will keep the 
panes from slipping down. 
With the hotbed frame placed upon 
the packed manure, the hack or high end 
to the north alivays , proceed to bank up on 
the outside of it with more manure — • 
quite up to the level of the lower or front 
edge. Then spread the soil, which is the 
actual seed bed, inside, making it from 
four to eight inches deep according to 
what you purpose growing. The shal¬ 
lower depth is quite sufficient for salads 
or for flower seeds—only radishes and 
Make a hotbed now and gain two months 
on the season 
