The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-07-10
Hotbeds the Year Round.

HOtbcdS and cOld-frameS, with the
accompanying complement of glass.
are a necessity for the market-gardener
who intends to do anything more than
farm gardening" Market-gardening
in the latitude north of New York City
cannot exist without these helps. TO
buy large quantities of vegetable plants
is expensive. while to raise the same
quantity is to have your W stock.
with some to sell rs payment for the.
trouble. There is no secret in hotbed
management; it wants good, well-made
sashes, two-inch plank 10 rest them on,
and these sunk in the ground, to keep
the from losing its heat in cold
winter weather. l buy sashes 3x6 feet;
set with double-thick English glass. size
6x3; tackled, puttied and bedded in
Pinch pine sash with horns 2 inches
long at each corner to carry them by.
Such sashes | have had in use fifteen
years, and they will last a lifetime
with good care; they rarely break;
dogs and cats walk over them, and they
sustain the weight of heavy SHOWS
Other sizes of sashes, or gla %, are the
index of inexperienee or ignorance.
Horse is the heating material
used, and one solid foot in depth Of
this, smoking hot from the pile when
the bed is made, will force plants better
than ANYTHING else I have tried. The
first week of February 1 plant a seed
| bed of lettuce. Early in March set
the plants out in hot5eds; these head
up to sell during May. Cauliiowers or
cucumbers are started for a second
crop-in places made vacant by the sale
of lettuce-from plants previously
raised for that purpose; the cncumbers
in pots, the caulidowers in beds pre-
pared for them. Cabbage seed is
planted about March /, pricked out the
last of the month in cold-frames, and
the cabbage bed planted to lettuce.
Tomatoes are pricked out to succeed
the early lettuce anil cabbage, some
times; and sometimes lettuce, cabbage,
or tomato follow radish. Radish will
gro Y from the seed in six weeks. Celery
and peppers remain in the hotbeas till
ready for the field.
Long radishes need at least eight
inches of soil over the manure, while
the round ones will grow in five or six
inches, as will lettuce. But if large
heads of lettuce are wanted they must
be set fifty plants to the sash in the
beds, and in earth a foot deep; lettuce
needs a cool head and warm feet, and
ia deep soil for big heads, while a
shallow soil, with seventy-five plants to
the sash, is the rule for the early.
forcing, small head lettuce. TIE
smaller heads will mature quicker.
while the big heads will sell better
later in the season. The tomatoes are
Ipricked out into beds. two feet from
the earth to the glass. to allow the
plants to get in blossom before time to
set in the open ground. The glass in
1.-THE fall can again be put TO good use
lby using ito cover the lettuce set in
the beds, which will mature from
Thanksgiving to New Years, after
which time the beds lie idle till Febru.
AIRY, unless used to winter small lettuce
or cabbage plants for early setting ii
the spring opening OF the beds.
Water is a necessity. Twenty-Five
sashes will in a dry time require a barre
of water daily and often more. My
supply comes from a tank filled by 8
hand pump and flows to the beds
through a rubber hose by the force Of
gravity; one man can fill the tank AND
then water until it is empty. The iater
the season and the dryer the weather
the more water is used, especially i
the sashes are taken off, which becomes
necessary after the middle of May
Then the sun and drying winds dry the
beds rapidly. Cucumbers and cauli.
flowers then suffer if not abundantly
watered. To stop watering then mean!
to lose all the crop. and all past labor
while continual watering may mean
cucumbers and caulif1owers to sell fol
less than the cost of production. Thil
is q dilemma with two horns. Halt ar
ounce of either cabbage, lettuce, Of
tomato seed, sowed under one 3x6 glass
will make 1900, 1000 and 800 gooe
plants respectively to prick out. 1 SOW
broadcast; but celery l plant in row
two inches apart and thin out as they
grow. 1 transplant peppers from thu
seed-bed direct to where they are to
grow.-F. ". Bull, in ". Y. Tribune