The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-03-06
MAKING A HOTBED.
How to Ferment the Manure and
Build Up the bed.

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 cut
set. For this reason instructions orig
inally given in a popular way by the
Kansas station may well be repeated
here:
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 q
very milo 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 1S
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 week or ten
days che 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
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 a good plan. Others prefer to
build the bed on the surface of the
ground, in which case it should be a
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, well mois-
tened and thoroughly and evenly tramp
cd down. Evenness of settling and
evenness of heat both depend upon the
care with which these instructions are
followed
Tho frames are next put on, about
five inches of fine, rich garden loan
filled in and the sash put in place. The
frames should be well banked around
with strawy manure to keep out the
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 a few
things need be mentioned here. Radish
and lettuce for early use will he among
the first things sown. seeds of early
cabbage and caulifower and later Ct
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 coon as cabbage and caulihow-
er 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.