The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1908-04-10

not always necessary to burn the soil
The burning, of course, should be
done before the frame is put in place.
The frame should be covered with
glass or oiled cloth; the latter can be
made by dipping muslin Or ordinary
seed bed covers in linseed oil. This
will give the cloth transparency and
will cause it to be waterproof. When
stretched over the frame the cloth
will act as a glass cover in permitting
the sunshine to enter the bed, thus
warming the soil and retaining the
heat on the inside. The seed should
be sown early enough so as to have
the plants ready to set out the first
or second week In June or even the
last week in May.
Before sowing the seed the soil
should be thoroughly raked, pulverized
and made even The writer prefers
to firm the surface of the seed bed
before sowing the seed. The seed
should be mixed with wood ashes or
lime before it is sown in order that
the seed may be better distributed on
the seed bed. After the seed is sown
it is preferable to drag over the sur
face gently and then firm the bed
again. This will cause the seeds to
fall between two moderately firmed
surfaces which will aid the seed in
terminating and the little plantlets in
getting hold of the soil. Sanding of
the surface may be done, applying at
the rate of One-fourth or one-half inch
of sand on the surface The sand
should be fine and screened before it
is applied. The sand surface is then
oa6 nd f1o -, r.
manner as before mentioned.
1t is very important that the seed
bed should be large enough to pro-
vide for an abundance of seed at the
right time, bearing in mind that the
first plants ready to set out are the
strongest and most vigorous in the
bed. The second and third and fourth
picking from a bed yield second, third
and fourth class plants, which, if
planted, will be disappointing not only
in yield, but in quality of the crop
produced
Further, it is never advisable to SOW
the seed thickly, but to give each
plant room to develop uniformly, and
it is a good investment to provide
enough seed beds so as not to be
forced to pick plants from the seed
bed more than twice. If all the seeds
from a single ounce were given
chance to grow, it would produce
enough plants to seed from five to ten
acres, and when we SOW the seed at
the rate of one ounce to the acre, we
do not give the plants chance to de-
velop uniformly. When the plants are
up in the seed bed they must be given
careful attention. If the day is warm
the cover should be taken off, but
should always be replaced during cold
days and during the nights. 1t may
be necessary to lift up the canvas
slightly so as to give the bed air, and
for this reason the oiled cloth canvas
should be stretched on a frame to
facilitate in giving air to the beds.
In using oiled cloth it is necessary to
water the beds-by hand rather than
depending upon rain. Further, a bed
watered arti1cially can be controlled
to greater advantage than one watered
by nature. The watering should new
er be done as a regular chOre duty,
for it is always safe to let the surface
OF the seed bed show an indication of
drying before water is applied More
harm is done in overwhelming the
seed bed than any other factor con-
nected with the bed The grower will
be surprised and see the advantage of
the seed bed thus covered and con-
structed by the time the plants are
ready to set out. IF the seed bed is
kept too moist the plants will show
a weak and spindling growth and will
suffer much in transplanting 1t is
far better that the seed bed be kept
somewhat dry and the plants will then
be stalker and stronger and stand
transplanting much better. Towards
the last of the seed bed period the
canvas should be removed entirely SO
as to harden off the plants before set
ting.
The hot bed method of raising
plants is undoubtedly the safest, but
it is also the most expensive and
troublesome. 1t may be a paying in
vestment during bad spring and
even under average conditions, but
the average farmer is very much OPP
posed of going to the expense of
properly preparing hot bed. For
the benefit Of those who would like to
try it it will be given here. The same
situation should be chose as in the
case of the cold frame, only the ex-
.-' oHouAu pe Hiieu Will fresh,
steaming horse manure, and firmly
stamped down. Then a frame similar
TO the one used for the cold frame
should be placed over the steaming
bed. 1t will be necessary to have
cross pieces for the frame to support
the sashes and cover up the joints be-
tween the sashes. These cross pieces
should be grooyed so as to prevent
the rain running in between the
SaSheS in to the he'd 9 soon &C fho