Connecticut western news., 1899-03-30
MAKING A HOTBEO.
How to Ferment the Manure and
 Build Up the Bed.
w. H. CAM p, Licensed Pharmacist Man St.

How to Ferment the Manure and Build Up the Bed.
 Most farmers and small gardeners depend almost entirely in heating hot beds upon the heat developed by a pile of fermenting manure beneath the beds. Upon the proper preparation of this the success of the whole enterprise will largely depend. and lack of attention to details will insure failure at the out set. For this reason instructions orig inally given in a popular way by the Kansas station may well be repeated here: .a.
 Good horse stable manure, with not too much straw or litter, is the best material 1t should not be fire fanged or burned out. or it develops only a very mild heat
 About the last of February or 1st of March for northern Kansas or earlier. according to locality, pile of manure sufficient in quantity to make bed IS inches deep under the sash to be used should be hauled to the place needed. forked over evenly, any dry portions be- ing wetted we'll, and built up into a compact mound. After a week or ten days the steaming of this pile will in- dicate that fermentation is well under way. when it should be thoroughly forked over into another pile. pitching the outer portions of the first toward the center of the second, again wetting all portions that are dry and making all of as even consistency as possible By another week it will again be in a strong fermentation and ready to build into the final bed.
 Some prefer to dig pit of the area of the frames to be used, into which the manure is packed This is more protected from the cold. and if the beds can be left in the same place year after year it is good plan. Others prefer to build the bed on the surface of the ground. in which case it should be 8 foot beyond the area of the frame on all sides. On the care and skill with which this final building up of the ma nure bed is dcne much of the success of the undertaking depends. The material should be carefully shaken over, made of even texture throughout, we'll mois- tened and thoroughly and evenly tramp ed down Evenness of settling and evenness of heat both depend upon the care with which these instructions are followed.
 The frames are next put on, about five inches of fine, rich garden loam filled in and the sash put in place. The frames should be we'll banked around !. n%,- %% +ha cold. A thermometer in the soil should be watched, and the heat in few days will often be noticed to have run up to 100 degrees. Not until it drops to 80 degrees should seeds be sown, or the young plants will surely be burned out.
 Of the scope of work that may be done with these hotbeds only few things need be mentioned here. Radish and lettuce for early use will be among the first things sown, seeds of early cabbage and cauliflower and later Of tomatoes and eggplant. Early Frame or Early White Spine cucumbers may be started in small flats or berry boxes, to be transplanted into cooler frames later. One who is provided with a number of sash need not start all of them as hot beds. As soon as cabbage and caulifiow- CT are large enough they should be transplanted into cold frames, which are simply the same frames filled with soil without heat below, and managed as cool as possible, so as to get hard. firm plants to set in the open ground. These are only few hints as to what may be done with lot of sash.