Morris tribune., 1891-03-18
Farmer smith Talks About Hot-Beds.

FARMER smith Talks About Hot-beds.
EDIToR TRIBUNE:-I have been
trying to make an estimate of the
number Of hot-beds that viii be found
among farmers in Stevens county,
and judging from what have seen
in the past, / think 1T will average
about two to each town. But in place
of the hot-bed you will see in almost
every farmers house during spring a
box that the women have filled with
soil and in which you will see veget-
ables struggling to grow, but it often
proves failure, the plants grow up
Ispindling and sickly, and at last they
die for the want of air. A large num-
ber of farmers use one room nfor
kitchen, dinning room and sitting
room, and as all vegetation draws a
large part of their nourishment from
the atmosphere, they soon find the
kitchen poor place to get that part
of their nourishment. / have made
several attempts to start vegetables in
| the house but never with that good
success that have with a hot.bed,
therefore consider hot bed of the
first and greatest Importance. 1t is
very difficult, in fact, almost impossi.
BILE. to have good garden without
first having good hot-bed.
will now give description of
hot-bed, such as every farmer can
make: The best plan is to dig pit in
the ground on the south side of some
building, about lS inches deep. Now
make box above the ground little |
larger than the pit, the side or end
should be abont IL to l6 inches high, |
and the front 8 or IL inches high, and |
the sides to correspond with the ends
in height. The size of the box on the
out side should be the same as the
storm windows of your house. This
will make hot-bed #. inches by
4 ft. l0inches, more or less. This box
should be filled in the fall with fine
straw or chaff and covered with boards.
In the spring when the time comes to
make the hot-bed clean out the straw
and fill up even with the ground with
horse manure, fresh from the stable,
having it packed solid, put on the
glass and let it be a few days and then
fill in about six inches of the best soil
that can be had, we'll pulverized; let it
remain few days more and it is ready
for the seed.
The hot-bed must be kept moist,
both before and after the plants come
up. To do this as it ought to be done
use sprinkler, and this is something
that every farmer needs. The cost is
but little, and there are many uses for
it, such as sprinkling plants after they
are tr ansplanted and sprinkling pota-
to tops with Paris green.
As there are but few farmers that
even thought of having hot-bed,
there would be no preparation last
fall by digging the pit, so it will be
necessary to make it above ground,
which can be done by banking it up
as you would house, and it will an
swer every purpose by covering it
with an old piece of carpet or quilt on
cold days and nights.
Great care must be taken after the
plants are up to raise the sash a little
on very warm days to-v6etilate the
bed, or else tbsShot sun will burn the
tender plants, and as the plants get
Difder false the sash higher to let IN
more air, and for few days before
transplanting to the garden the sash
should be removed from the hot.bed
through the day and placed on at
night. This will harden the plants so
they will be in a better condition to
to the open air.
In my article in a late issue of the
TRIBUNE on the garden, it should
read "rows running north and south"
and / think it better to have the rows
the same way in the hot-bed, as they
get better sunlight.
When glass cannot be had to cover
the hot-bed, I would suggest the use
of cotton cloth. 1t is said to be just
as good as glass. will refer the read
er to DR.. Maughan for information on
this subject; or rather I will suggest
that the doctor give us his experience |
with cloth for hot-beds.
S. B. SMITH.