Cold Frame And Hotbed

To carry on hot-beds on a large scale successfully is almost an art in

itself, and for fuller details I will refer my readers to works on

gardening. Early plants, in a small way, may be raised in flower pots or

boxes in a warm kitchen window. It is best, if practicable, to have but

one plant in each pot, that they may grow short and stocky. If the seed

are not planted earlier than April, for out-of-door cultivation, a cold

frame will answer.



For a cold frame select the locality in the fall, choosing a warm

location on a southern slope, protected by a fence or building on the

north and north-west. Set posts in the ground, nail two boards to these

parallel to each other, one about a foot in height, and the other

towards the south about four inches narrower; this will give the sashes

resting on them the right slope to shed the rain and receive as much

heat as possible from the sun. Have these boards at a distance apart

equal to the length of the sash, which may be any common window sash for

a small bed, while three and a half feet is the length of a common

gardener's sash. If common window sash is used cut channels in the

cross-bars to let the water run off. Dig the ground thoroughly (it is

best to cover it in the fall with litter, to keep the frost out) and

rake out all stones or clods; then slide in the sash and let it remain

closed for three or four days, that the soil may be warmed by the sun's

rays. The two end boards and the bottom board should rise as high as the

sash, to prevent the heat escaping, and the bottom board of a small

frame should have a strip nailed inside to rest the sash on. Next rake

in, thoroughly, guano, or phosphate, or finely pulverized hen manure,

and plant in rows four to six inches apart. As the season advances raise

the sashes an inch or two, in the middle of the day, and water freely,

at evening, with water that is nearly of the temperature of the earth in

the frame. As the heat of the season increases whitewash the glass, and

keep them more and more open until just before the plants are set in

open ground, then allow the glass to remain entirely off, both day and

night, unless there should be a cold rain. This will harden them so that

they will not be apt to be injured by the cabbage beetle, as well as

chilled and put back by the change. Should the plants be getting too

large before the season for transplanting, they should be checked by

root pruning,--drawing a sharp knife within a couple of inches of the

stalk. If it is desirable still further to check their growth, or harden

them, transplant into another cold frame, allowing each plant double the

distance it before occupied.



The structure and management of a hot-bed is much the same as that of a

cold frame, with the exception that the sashes are usually longer and

the back and front somewhat higher; being started earlier the requisite

temperature has to be kept up by artificial means, fermenting manure

being relied upon for the purpose; and the loss of this heat has to be

checked more carefully by straw matting, and, in the far North, by

shutters also. In constructing it, horse-manure, with plenty of litter,

and about a quarter its bulk in leaves, if attainable, all having been

well mixed together, is thrown into a pile, and left for a few days

until steam escapes, when the mass is again thrown over and left for two

or three days more, after which it is thrown into the pit (or it may be

placed directly on the surface) which is lined with boards, from

eighteen inches to two feet in depth, when it is beaten down with a fork

and trodden well together. The sashes are now put on and kept there

until heat is developed. The first intense heat must be allowed to pass

off, which will be in about three days after the high temperature is

reached. Now throw on six or eight inches of fine soil, in which mix

well rotted manure, free from all straw, or rake in, thoroughly,

superphosphate, or guano, at the rate of two thousand pounds to the

acre, and plant the seed as in cold frame. Harden the plants as directed

in preceding paragraph.