The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1921-12-29
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
WORK IN AGRICULTURE.
HOTBEDS

"a . 00SN ASA
tender plants at an early date than
they could be planted in the open.
They should be located on well /
drained spot, preferably on a SOU
thern slope and if possible where
they will be shieldl1 from cold
winds from the North and West
by building trees, etc. The Slope
of the hotbed Itself should be from
North to South and the length OF
the bed should be from East to
West.
Hotbeds are commonly heated
with fresh horse manure mixed
with straw, leaves or similar ma
terial and may be constructed in
tie following manner:d 6 pit about
eighteen inches deep. Put a layer
of dry leaves or pine needles in bot
tom of pit, making the layer about
two or three inches thick. Next put
in the mixture Of manure and ht-
ter and pack WELL A sufficient guam
tity of manure should be used to
make a layer from nine tc twelve
inches deep after having been
pack. In order co facilitate fermen-
tation or heat, pile the manure
mixture in pile from "a to 48
hours before using in GAe pit. Ar
range : frame to fit just inside the
pit and place on top of the layer OF
manure. The back wall or North
side of the frame should extend Il
inches above the level of the soil
on the outside of the hotbed, the
front wall or South side should ex-
tend about six inches above the
level of outside soil. Throw some
dirt up against the frame a four
inch layer Of good garden soil for
seed bed The seed BID should be
bevel and firm. Pratice seed bed
sterilization whenever there is
danger of loss from damping off
fungous diseases. Cover hotbeds
with sash. After completion allow
bed to stand about two days before
sowing seed so that the heat pro-
duced by the first rapid fermerta
tion may be uniformly distributed.
After The seed have baenpl anted,
close attention should be given to
watering and ventilation of bed.
The soil should never be allowed to
dry out, but should not be kept wa
ter soaked. Water should be APP
piled early enough in the day to
allow plants to dry before night.
The size of the hotbed will de-
pend upon the amount of acreage
in field. One 6 by foot or the size
of two standard sash will be large
enough to start plants to set an
acre
Boxes may be used to grow plant
for the small hon. garden. Put
rom four to six inches Of good rich
loose soil in the box and plant seed
as you would in the hotbed. The
use of manure is not necessary as
the boxes are kepto nthe porch or
the inside of the house in a VIM
dow, giving the young plants the
necessary protection from cold.
COLD FRAMES
Cold frame8,so useful n harden
ing plants started in the hoCbeds
and for Stirring plants in mild CHI
mates, are constructed in much
the same way as hotbe1s, except
that no manure is used and the
frame may be covered with either
glass or canvas. When covered
with canvas, it would be advisable
to use a ridge pole through the
center, "a inches above the bed.
The bed should be framed with 8
inch board. The canvas covering
should be sufficient width to ex-
tend from side to side over ridge
pole. In order to prevent the can
vas from being blown off, a strip
should be tackled on the edge. This
strip will also help in removing
canvas by rolling. Plants in the
cold frame should have more ven
tiIation but less water than in hot
bed. 1t is best to keep the soil ra-
Their dry.
For further information, ad-
l..oco u M Graham State Vepe-