The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-03-04
FARM AND GARDEN.
All About Hot Beds. .

All About Hot Beds.
Hotbeds want rs much daily attention as
milk COW. While their season last, some III
lie time must he spent upon them, or all the
work of their preparation is of no value
The preparation is easy. The principal ex
pense is the sash. There have been many
attempts to use substitutes for glass, but they
are generally failures There IS no article SC
cheap, nor 80 durable. nor so satisfactory
the sashes are usually made SIX feet long oy
four teel wide. The beds a,e made large
enough to extend Il foot to eighteen lhches
outside of the box or frame in which the SASH
is placed: a single sash Will give enough
early cabbage plants and lettuce to supply an
ordinary garden. Usually, however. frames
are comp0sed of two or three sashes, so tina!
they arc SIX feet wide by eight or twelve feet
long, The frame itself is rough box that
should be made Of one and one-half or two
inch stuff, with the back sid" eighteen to
twenty inches high, and the front twelve to
fifteen inckes.
The preparation for the bed il simple.
Some dig square pit TO put the bed in, but
this is not necessary. The vegetable mark ct
gardeners generally level off the ground, and
extend their beds just as far as they have
glass to cover them. The manure used gen
orally has large proportion Of horse dung
IN it, especially if great or quick heat is
wanted for forcing But the ordinary farm
yard manure, with few lOa.,s of horse man.
ure N liked with it, and the cleanings of the
poultry house. will make a good bed that will
give moderate heat for a long time, and Is
better for an ordinary villa garden. Besides
such bed requires less attention and skill in
the management If the bed consists of
three sashes. or is twelve feet long, there will
be needed about four good loads Of manure.
The custom is to pile the manure lightly in
heap or heaps close to the place where the
bed has been staked out, ana 20 let 1t remain
Tor a few days till it shows that it is begin.
ning to heat. Then the manure is laid down
10 bed till ii is fully two feet high, treaoing
1t down solid as possible, as it is spread level
and even. Then the frame is put on with
sashes. After the frame Is put on, layer of
sand, if convenient and handy, about three
inches, may be spread over IN the inside OF
the frame. In day or two, a bed OF six to
eight inches of fine garden soil should be
put in and levelled, and pressed down as firm
az possible In the meantime the frame must
be banked up on the outside with manure all
round, and the bed is ready for seed. If the
soil is clean and free from seeds OF weeds or
grass, as it should be, tue seeds may be i'm
mediately sown; but il not, then it is better
to wait till they start and the weeds are kill.
ed. The frame is then all ready to grow
whatever seed may be sown.
Now, it Is after this is done that to secure
success the hot.bed requires daily attention.
We should say, however, before proceeding
further, that the locality of the bed should
he in sheltered situation, where it can face
the south or southeast The principal atten.
ton is to supply the young plants, after they
are started, with water and air. The heat of
the sun through the glass should also be mod
fled by shading to certain extent, and the
glass Is sometimes covered with a light thin
whitewash on the under side, for this pur-
pose. The heat below causes q rapid evapo-
ration, but also supplies good deal of mOis-
ture TO the earth at first but the heat of the
glass dries II at the surface. Water is con.
stantly needed from Il fine rose watering pot
after the plants show themselves; but the
heat, the moisture and the crowded state ofthe
frame draw the plants, and their stems arc
white, slender filaments that are tender to the
last degree, and hence are useless. We want
the plants short stemmed and stocky, with
plenty Of leaves. To secure this Kind of
vegetation, the plants must have air. This is
where the care and skill in management come
IN. To prevent the effects Of frost or the
check which the cold OF the nights will sure
ly cause, we shut down the glass frames, and
the temperature, close, moist and warm,
causes very tender growth
In the morning early, the first thing done
is to raise the sashes or slide them open "A
few inches SO that the plants may have air
without being chilled. Later in the day, as
the weather may happen to be suitable, the
sashes should be thrown more open, and as
the plants show their growth hardin IS, the
sashes may be completely taken off during
the day, covering only ct shutdown and lift
ing them at sunrise. II is on the judgment
exercised In the treatment of the growing
plants that the success depends.
AS the early vegetation is taken out, the
bed may he used to grow various other plants,
by skillful management 1t is best, however,
to coufine this TO u single sash that may be
used independent of the other part of the
bed. For instance. after the early cabbage
and lettuce plant, Ire set out ana cleared off
from undcr sii.lc sash, the cucumbers and
melons. which rrc growing in another sec.
ton, still requi protection at night though
not IN the dar lime, and nothing should
interfere with hem. Bat when the bed
has been clcH.y.., all the ANIMALS for the
flower beds nry DC started growing under
one Of the sssh"a, and they will make strong,
nice plants fui redding out, and be almost
ready for flow, Ivy the time that, otherwise,
we should be "uly sowing their seeds il
grown in the o!d nary way in the open air.
FRIED PoTAToEs-A great deal Of good
material is wasted for want Of proper cook
ing. Food which might have been made de-