110 
The most important end 
of a radiator 
Learn the reasons why 
before you build, and 
spare yourself much 
disappointment. 
Do you know how a radiator works? Steam enter¬ 
ing a radiator, gives up its heat, turns to water and 
unless this water can escape it compresses the air 
already there. In the average radiator, attached to a 
one-pipe system, the live steam rushes in and begins 
to shove out the air and water. The water is supposed 
to run down the same pipe up which the steam is rac¬ 
ing. There ensues a bedlam like a boiler factory with 
air and water hissing and spitting from the vent. 
Radiators on a two-pipe system and fitted with the 
Dunham Radiator Trap, never knock, spit, leak or 
hiss. The Dunham Trap automatically opens and lets 
out the water and air. Then when the radiator is hot 
all over, it automatically closes and keeps the steam in. 
Insist that your architect specify a two-pipe system 
with every radiator fitted with a Dunham Radiator 
Trap. See that your builder follows this specification. 
Then you will have a heating system which will heat 
up quickly, quietly with low pressure steam and give 
you most heating comfort per ton of coal. 
Leading architects and builders have recommended 
the Dunham Trap as standard equipment for nearly 
fifteen years. 
Existing steam heating systems can be Dunhamized. W^rite for 
“The Dunham Home Heating System” booklet and the address of 
the nearest Dunham Service Station. 
Bunhiim 
■Cheating service 
C. A. Dunham Company, Fisher Building, Chicago 
Factories: Marshalltown, Iowa 
loronto, Canada 
Branches in 36 cities in 
United States and Canada 
London: 64 Regent House, Regent Street, W, J. 
Paris: Establts, Munzing <fe Cie, 47, Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi 
Dodsoo Wren 
House 4 eom- 
partments — 28 
inches high, 18 
inches in diam* 
eter Price 
S5.00 
Dodson Purple 
Martin House 
[cottage BtyleJ 
28 compart¬ 
ments. 32x27 
Inches. Price 
$ 12.00 
Dodson Blue* 
bird House. 4 
compartments , 
21 inches high, 
18 inches in 
diameter. ^ 
Price $5.00 
Spring Will Bring the Birds 
A Dodson House Will Attract and Keep Them — But 
IMPORTANT—Erect Them Now so they may weather. 
TITHILE they are scientifically built to overcome the little peculiar features 
» V to v>'hich the birds object, an appearance of newness sometimes intimi¬ 
dates the little feathered fellows, and they abhor fresh paint. Erected now they 
will weather, blending into the foliage, and inviting immediate habitation, 
The first step to beautify year grounds is the erecting of Dodson Bird Houses— 
as important 33 plantiogr trees and shrubs. The trees and shrubs will thrive when 
protected by our native songbirds. They are invaluable for destroying msectivor- 
# )esti—and their beauty and song lend a finishing touch to Nature s 
ush Free Bird Book sent on request, illustrating Dodson Line, 
Joseph H. Dodson 
731 Harrison Avenue, Kankakee, Illinois 
Dodson Sparrow Trap guaranteed to rid your com¬ 
munity of these quarrelsome pests. Price $7.00. 
Dodson Cement 
Bird Bath, 
Height 32 in.. 
Basin 34 in. in 
_ diameter. _ 
Price $17.00 
House &• Garden 
For the Garden Beginner 
{Continued from page 108) 
enables him to get the seedlings pro¬ 
duced in the hotbed gradually accus¬ 
tomed to outdoor conditions and to 
raise these into strong, sturdy planting 
stock by the time the garden is ready 
for them. Resetting from a hotbed 
into a cold frame, or from one flat into 
another, or into pots, gives most plants 
a better root system and makes them 
stockier and more valuable for trans¬ 
planting into the open ground. Besides 
being used in hardening plants that 
have been started in the hotbed, the 
cold frame is utilized in mild climates 
instead of a hotbed for starting plants 
before seeds can be planted safely in 
the open. In the extreme South the cold 
frame is much more extensively used 
than the hotbed, but each has its place 
in garden economy. 
Still another method of giving plants 
an early start is used extensively for 
beans, cucumbers, melons, sweet corn, 
and other warmth-loving plants. This 
consists in planting enough seeds for a 
“hill” in berry boxes filled with soil. 
The boxes are kept in the house or in 
greenhouses until the garden soil be¬ 
comes warm, by which time the plants 
should have reached a considerable de¬ 
gree of development. The bottoms of 
the boxes are then cut away and the 
remaining frame is sunk with the plants 
in their permanent location. 
Starting Early Vegetables in the 
House 
The flat or seed box which is kept 
in the house is perhaps the most prac¬ 
tical device for use by the home gar¬ 
dener for starting early vegetables. By 
its use earlier crops of tomatoes, cab¬ 
bage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, pep¬ 
pers, eggplant, and lettuce can be had 
with little outlay for equipment. Early 
potatoes sometimes are forced in the 
same way. Seeds so planted germinate 
and are ready for transplanting by the 
time it is safe to sow the same kind 
of seed in the open ground. When 
danger of frost is over and the soil 
is dry enough to work, therefore, the 
early garden may be started with seed¬ 
lings well above the surface. Trans¬ 
planting, if properly done, instead of 
injuring seems to help such plants to 
develop a strong root system. 
How to Make and Use a Seed Box] 
Any sort of wooden box filled with 
good soil answers the purpose, but the 
following specific suggestions for a box 
of convenient size may be useful. Con¬ 
struct a box 3 to 4 inches deep, 12 to 
14 inches wide, and 20 to 24 inches 
long. A layer of about 1 inch of gravel 
or cinders should be placed in the bot¬ 
tom of the box. It should then be 
filled nearly full with rich garden soil 
or soil enriched with decayed leaves 
or manure. The rich soil beneath the 
family woodpile or around decaying 
logs is splendid for this purpose. The 
soil should be pressed down firmly with 
a small piece of board and rows made 
one-fourth to one-half inch deep and 
2 inches apart crosswise of the box. 
The seed should be distributed 8 or 
10 to the inch in the rows and be cov¬ 
ered. The soil should be watered and 
the box set in a warm place in the light. 
The best location is just inside a sunny 
window. Water enough must be given 
from time to time to cause the seeds to 
germinate and grow thriftily, but not 
enough to leak through the box. If 
a piece of glass is used to cover the 
box, it will hold the moisture in the 
soil and hasten the germination. 
When the plants are from an inch 
to an inch and a half high they should 
be thinned to 1 or 2 inches apart in 
the row, so as to give them space 
enough to make a strong stocky growth. 
If it is desired to keep the plants which 
are thinned out, they may be set 2 
inches apart each way in boxes similar 
to the seed box. When the weather 
becomes mild the box of plants should 
be set out of doors part of the time 
so that the plants will “harden off” 
in preparation for transplanting to the 
garden later. A good watering should 
be given just before the plants are 
taken out of the box for transplanting, 
so that a large ball of earth will stick 
to the roots of each one. 
The Hotbed and Cold Frame 
Locate the hotbed in some sheltered 
but not shaded spot which has a south¬ 
ern exposure. The most convenient size 
is a box-like structure 6 feet wide and 
any multiple of 3 feet long, so that 
standard 3 by 6 foot hotbed sash may 
be used. The frame should be 12 inches 
high in the back and 8 inches in the 
front. This slope is for the purpose 
of securing a better angle for the sun’s 
rays and should be faced south. 
The hotbed not only must collect any 
heat it can from the sun, but also must 
generate heat of its own from fermen¬ 
tation in fresh manure. Fresh horse 
manure, free from stable litter, is best 
for generating heat. 
If the hotbed is to be an annual af¬ 
fair, make an excavation 18 inches to 
2 feet deep, about 2 feet greater in 
length and width than the frame carry¬ 
ing the sash. Line the excavation with 
plank or with a brick or concrete wall. 
A drain to carry off surplus water is 
essential. This may consist of either 
tile or pipe extending to a low portion 
of the garden or a trench partially 
filled with coarse stones covered with a 
layer of sod, then filled level with soil. 
After a sufficient amount of fresh 
horse manure has been accumulated fill 
the hotbed pit, and while it is being 
filled tramp the manure as firmly and 
as evenly as possible. When the ground 
level is reached, place the frame in posi¬ 
tion and bank the sides and ends with 
manure. Place about 3 inches of good 
garden loam on top of the manure in¬ 
side the frame and cover it with the 
sash. After the heat has reached its 
maximum and has subsided to between 
80° and 90° F. it will be safe to 
plant the seeds. Select the plumpest, 
freshest seeds obtainable. Use stand¬ 
ard varieties, and get them from re¬ 
liable seed houses. Keep the bed par¬ 
tially dark until the seeds germinate. 
After germination, however, the 
plants will need all the light possible, 
exclusive of the direct rays of the 
sun, to keep them growing rapidly. This 
is a crisis in plant life, and ventilating 
and watering with great care are of 
prime importance. Too close planting 
and too much heat and water cause the 
plants to become spindling. Water the 
plants on clear days, in the morning, 
and ventilate immediately to dry the 
foliage and to prevent mildew. 
The cold frame so useful in hard¬ 
ening plants started in the hotbed and 
for starting plants in mild climates, 
is constructed in much the same way 
as the hotbed, except that no manure 
is used, and the frame may be covered 
either with glass sash or with canvas. 
A cold frame may be built on the sur¬ 
face of the ground, but a more perma¬ 
nent structure suitable for holding 
plants over winter will require a pit 
18 to 24 inches deep. The cold frame 
should be filled with a good potting 
soil. The plants should have more ven¬ 
tilation in the cold frame, but should 
not receive so much water. It is best 
to keep the soil rather dry. 
In transplanting, remember that 
plants usually thrive better if trans¬ 
planted into ground that has been fresh¬ 
ly cultivated. Transplanting to the 
open field is best done in cool, cloudy 
weather and in the afternoon. This pre¬ 
vents the sun’s rays from causing the 
plant to lose too much moisture through i 
evaporation. 
