of seed. Sometimes this is done by sowing the seed in pots and boxes in the living-room, as advised in Chapter VI, but here conditions are not very favorable

he garden ready for planting, we must make use of the hotbed. If this is done we can gain from six weeks to two months in time, a

arch is quite early enough

come to a study of it. It is simply making a place in which summer conditions can be imitated by supplying it with steady, gentle heat, and in confining this heat within an inclosure. The heat is generated by the use o

ly fresh manure from the horse-stable,

frame is to be. Spread it in layers four or five inches deep, tramping each layer down well. When there is a foot and a half of it, cover it with something that will shed rain, and wait for fermentation to take place. A warm moisture will rise from it like steam. After two or three days fork the material over, and

take place in the manure-pile, p

des that slope from the wider boards to the narrower ones. Cover it with glass set in sash. If possibl

h from cold winds. Some persons prefer to make an excavation a foot or more in depth for the reception of the heating material, but this is not a matter of much importance. A

d frame in place, and fill in with five or six inches of very

importance. Unless your seedlings are aired daily, if the weather is pleasant, they will make a rapid but weak growth, and when the time comes to put them in the cold-frame or the open ground-provided they are alive then-they will be so lacking in vitality that the change will be pretty sure to put an end to them. On ever

ome in without taking along with it the cold air which is in circulation outside, but when one takes into consideration the fact that the warm air inside the hotbed meets the air from out of doors at the point of entrance it will be understood that it repels or counteracts

formation of frost on the glass. If you find, in the morning, that the glass is covered with mo

warmth inside the frame is decreasing too rapidly

test the heat inside by an accurate thermometer before venturing to s

l of cold can be admitted through a very small crevice. A few cracks will let out the heat faster th

ed with earth. This enables it to retain the heat be

be set for the purpose of hardening them off before they are put into the open ground. In other words, it is a hotbed without heat. The temperature in it ought to register from 60°

rcised at all times and frequent attention given. It is not a self-regulating thing by any means. You will have to consider the weather, the time of d

t in injury, if not death. Whenever water is applied, use a sprinkler that throws a fine spray. If thrown on the soil in a stream the water will often wash the smaller plants out