The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-27
A FARMERS HOT-BED.
Interesting Bulletin Issued By Utah
Experiment Station.

E8pSIlmEIL 0taIlOn.
Lettuce radishes, mustard, cress,
corn-salad and spinach. not to mention
plants for out-of-door transplanting.
may be grown SO easily when once the
growing of them has been tried that
not many owners of a garden spot will
! be without these spring luxuries. To
most people, too, it is a pleasure to
care for the fresh, growing plants
at this season Of the year.
A hot-bed consisting of manure
! placed in a pit and covered with soil
over which there is a frame to hold
sashes OF glass, is the requisite for pro-
ducing the spring delicacies mentioned
above A bed of this kind may be
started six weeks before gardening can
begin out of doors. The bed is made as
follows:
For the location of the hot-bed Sc
lect a sunny, southern exposure, wItn
a building, or wall, or trees for a wind
break. Manure fresh from the horse
stable is the best. Pile it at the Mace
where needed in a compact mound and
leave it for a week, when it should be
forked over and left fer u few DAYS
longer. This treatment is given that
the heat may become evenly d1strlbu-
ted. The bed may be built on the sur
face of the ground, but il is best to dig
pit for protection from the weather.
This pit should be two and a half feet
deep. When the manure has heated
sufficiently, fill the pit to within six
inches of the top, in the doing Of which
tramp the manure well in order not to
have unevenness in the surface soil
caused by unequal settling.
over the steaming manure place five
inches Of soil composed Of equal parts
of light sandy loom and well rotted
stable manure. The heat in the bed
win be TOO great 20 allow of planting
at once, and should be allowed TO -au
to eighty degrees before the seed are
put in.
A convenient size for a home garden
hot-bed is 6X12 feet. y good frame
can be made of one-inch lumber by
strengthening at the top with the same
material or with scantling- IN order
10 give the sash the proper pitch the
back should be at least six inches high
err than the front. Fifteen inches Tor
the back and nine inches for the front
are good dimensions. The sides should
be an inch or two higher than q lire
running from the front to the back, and
q cleat should be nailed on each side
flush with this line. At the joint where
the sashes meet on the frame q three
inch board should be doVetaiied into
the front and back.
For a frame built as described above,
four 3X6 feet sash holding three rows
of t0x12 inch glass, viii be needed. The
panes of glass are butted, no cross
mountings are used, and care must be
taken that there is an unobstructed
way for water to pass off. This part
Of the hot-bed is the greatest item of
expense, and if the bed IS not made
earlier than the 1st of April, many
gardeners, to avoid the cost of glass
sash, use frames covered with muslin.
IN caring for the bed the following
points should be carefully observed:
First, regular and judicious watering;
second ventilation during the heat of
the day; third, protection during cold
nights; fourth, frequent stirring OF the
soil between the rows of the young
plants. u. P. HEDRICK,
Feb. 81, 1859. Station Horticulturist.