The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-03-10
Muslin Sheets For HOtbeds.
Mary Mayer Fisher in New York Tribune

Mary Mayer Fisher in New YORK tribune.
remember that some one made objec-
tons to my kind of hotbed cover, on the
ground of it's being expensive-needing to
be removed every two years at least. True,
it is not SO cheap an arrangement as glass in
the loSg run, but for terminating flower
seeds, many Of Which are very delicate, I
know of nothing else to be compared to it
for desirability. It has two supereminent
qualities; a woman can make 1t; the hottest
sun will not burn the most tender plant I'M
der it. Then, too, it is so light and easy to
handle as to break nobody's back in adjusting
it. 7 buy unbleached muslin at cents a
and sew enough together to cover light
frame the size of the top of the hotbed.
This frame has one or two cross-peices to
stay it and have it enough larger than the
box to fit snugly down over it or around it
at the top. After stretching the muslin
over the frame tightly and tackingit neatly
about the edge,' give it a coat of inseed oil
in which one or two eggs are well beaten or
stirred. A pint of oil will coat two quite
large covers. Let dry for a day and the
cover is ready for use. Be careful to keep
the cover clean until the oil is we'll dried
have my hotbed for seeds made not far
from the first Of March, and about the first
of April I have a second one ready to trans
plant my seedlings into. with the same sort
of cover. And everything grows in these
beds; they can't help it, the ground is SO
soft and warm and moist-just paradise
for seeds. So long as the nights are cold,
of course the beds are covered with blank
cts. And the delight take in my hotbeds
I never can tell. From the time the plants
begin to stick up their green heads until
they are all lodged in the open ground,
those hot beds are ny Mecca. Anaximan-
der says: "Those hotbeds will be the death
of you!" when all the time they are the life
of me. I visit them dozen times a day
to see how the young things are getting on
and never count on doing much during
the hotbed season. If I happen to have
stock Of new seeds the interest is all the
greater, and I'm sure that with all the
amusements and "enjoyments" that I've
had and have, enjoy none Of them quite
SO much as I do these hotbeds!
lever put flower seeds in the open
ground with any hope of resurrection fol
them. think many women become dis
couraged because their seeds do not grow.
If such will follow my plan-which is by nc
means original-they will never have cause
for such encouragement. Many delicate
seeds may be beautifully "started' in a
cover. I nave seen shiftless people use
simply the muslin, unrolled, for cover,
and with tolerable success. The oil, OF
course, makes the muslin waterproof. and
egg, I have been taught to believe, adds tc
its translucent properties. commend the
hotbeds as panacea for all the ills Of the
spring time--for society, for solitude, fol
entertainment, for instruction, for comfort
and consolation. I don't think any woman's
affairs can be so desperate but that a loving
ly -tended hotbed will be like little heaven
to her. Then, too, if she can make it, at
least in part herself, it is something to be
glad of, when one has to ding" at a man in
order to get thing done, it destroys half
the pleasure Of having it.-Mary WAGER.
Fisher, Bryn Maacr, Penn.