Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1880 — Hot-Beds for Early Plants. [ARTICLE]

Hot-Beds for Early Plants.

Farmers whojreside in close proximity to cities can Obtain early plants at a trifling cost from gardeners who raise them extensively for sale. But a large proportion of our cultivators are far removed from business centers, and in order to gain an advanced crop of vegetables, either for market or home consumption, must, perforce, raise their own plants. For this class, therefore, hot-beds or cold frames, or both, become a necessity. Elaborate descriptions of hot-beds appearing from time to time make confusion more confounded with novices who are liable to look upon many very plain matters as formidable ones. slot-beds are, in brief, any arrangement by which light is admitted and heat generated and maintained at a uniform and sufficiently high temperature to meet the requirements or the special plants under treatment. Hotbeds, as usually adopted, depend upon E mass of fermenting horse-manure for their heat; hence the preparation of the manure becomes a matter of primary and chief importance. When the bed is designed to retain its usefulness for any length of time the droppings must be well worked previous to application. If the manure is obtained fresh from the stable or yard and found to be too dry, it shquld be thoroughly watered and thrown lightly together to ferment, which will take place in a few days. After this has occurred it ought to be completely turned, shaken and mixed, and allowed to again lie in a heap, heating somewhat for a few days to induce a uniform consistency of the mass. When thus cleared of its rankness the bed can be made. Select a spot where the ground has good under-drainage, as the bed must be dry underneath; let it be sheltered from the north as much as possible and fully exposed to the sun. It should be built up with the manure from two to four feet high, according to the severity of the season and climate, and wider by six inches every way than the frame to be placed over it. When the bed is placed directly on the surface of the ground in a wide flat heap, well beatened down, more manure is required than if a shallow pit is dug for its reception. Either mode is effectual, but the former is the more usual one. While being spread the manure should be shaken and mixed and firmly pressed down to render the bed compact. The hot-bed frame, which must now be placed on and kept. close until considerable heat is produced, can be made of planks, on edge, a foot or fourteen inches high and enough higher in the rear to give a good slant to the cover. If it is desired to sow the seed in the bed, six or eight inches of fine rich loam or soil should be placed within the frame upon the' top of the manure. When the seed is sown in pots or pans three or four inches of sifted sand or ashes may be spread on the surface of the bed m place of the soil, and the pots plunged in the bed. Air should be given day and night so long as there remains any danger from rank steam. As the beat of any hot-bed is liable in time to decline, linings are added, that is, fresh, hot, fermenting (but not rank) manure, applied about a foot in width all round the bed. There is always danger of burning by the sun and heat, which must be guarded against by constant watchfulness and ventilation. Some of the New York gardeners have of late years imitated the example of those in the old Country by covering hot-bed frames with cloth instead of the usual material, glass. Cotton cloth of close texture is stretched and nailed tightly over the frame and receives a coat, applied with an ordinary paint-brush, of the following mixture: Two (2) ounces lime-water, four (4) ounces of linseed oil, one (1) ounce of white of egg, two (2) ounces of yelk of egg; mix the lime-water and oil with a gentle heat, beat the eggs separately and mix with the former. Haying applied one coat of this mixture, wait until it dries before applying another. Some farmers there are who testify to the efficiency of two coats of boiled linseed oil alone as a wash for the muslin. Other* again report that melted lard applied to the muslin renders it waterproof and nearly transparent, which is all that is required.

Among the advantages claimed for shades of stout muslm prepared in either of the ways described over glass are; it is leak than one-fourth the expense, repairs are cheaply made, the frames thus covered are light and the beds require leas watering.— N. T. World.