Part 4

At the North the first of March is quite early enough to get the hotbed under way.

I am aware that many young gardeners have the impression that a hotbed is, in some respects, a mysterious thing, and because of this they do not undertake to make one. Now there is nothing simpler than a hotbed when you 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 of material which ferments, and the inclosure is nothing but a combination of boards and glass so arranged that the temperature inside it can be regulated to suit the requirements of the plants you undertake to grow in it.

The heat-generating material is generally fresh manure from the horse-stable, or a mixture of that and coarse litter.

Because the heat from rapid fermentation is quite intense, at first the material from which it is obtained should be prepared before the hotbed is brought into use. A quantity of it should be spread on the site selected for the hotbed--which should be one that is high and dry--covering a space larger than the hotbed 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 remove all straw, and make another heap similar to the first one, taking great pains to have it firm and compact. It is very important that it should have considerable solidity, as a heap of loose litter will never give satisfactory results. There should be at least a foot and a half of this heat-generating material.

While waiting for fermentation to take place in the manure-pile, prepare the frame for your hotbed.

Let it be about a foot and a half in depth at the back, and eight or ten inches deep in front, with sides that slope from the wider boards to the narrower ones. Cover it with glass set in sash. If possible have the sash hinged to the back-board, so that it can be lifted for ventilation without removing it.

The best location for a hotbed is one facing the south, that all possible advantage can be taken of sunshine, and against a building or fence that will protect it on the north 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. As a general thing it will not be possible to do this in a satisfactory manner while there is frost in the ground, as there will be at the North until after the first of March.

When the first stages of fermentation are over, set the hotbed frame in place, and fill in with five or six inches of very fine, rich soil. This is what your seed is to be planted in.

The young gardener will be surprised at the amount of heat contained in an inclosure like the one described. It will be very similar to the weather conditions of early or middle May out of doors. In it plants will grow healthily and vigorously, provided they are given plenty of fresh air. This is a matter of the greatest 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 every sunny or warm day the sash should be lifted an inch or two, about ten o'clock, and left in that condition until about two. Care must be taken, however, to see that the wind does not blow from a quarter that will drive the cold air in upon the plants. The admission of a cold blast will often be fatal to the tender plants.

Great caution must be exercised in regard to ventilation. The aim should be, at all times, to admit pure, fresh air without allowing cold to enter with it. This may seem a somewhat paradoxical statement, for at first thought it will seem impossible for air from without to come 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 it to an extent that makes it safe to open the sash slightly when the outside temperature is nearly down to freezing-point. The hotbed-owner must study existing conditions and be governed accordingly. It is impossible to lay down any hard-and-fast rules to apply in this case.

On cold nights the hotbed sash should be covered with blankets or old carpeting to prevent the formation of frost on the glass. If you find, in the morning, that the glass is covered with moisture on its under side, raise the sash a trifle and leave it so until the moisture clears away.

If at any time you have reason to think that the warmth inside the frame is decreasing too rapidly, bank up about it with fresh fermenting material.

After constructing the hotbed and putting the frame and sash in place, test the heat inside by an accurate thermometer before venturing to sow any seed. When it registers 85° or 90° the bed is ready for seeding.

In making the frame for a hotbed care should be taken to see that all joints fit snugly. A great deal of cold can be admitted through a very small crevice. A few cracks will let out the heat faster than it is generated, therefore see to it that in constructing the frame a good piece of work is done.

Some persons tell me that they always bank up a hotbed with earth. This enables it to retain the heat better than it is possible for it to do without banking.

A hotbed will be of no particular benefit unless supplemented by a cold-frame. This is simply a snug inclosure of boards covered with glass, into which plants from the hotbed are to 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° to 65°. Raise the sash an inch or two on sunny days before the rays of the sun striking on the glass raise the temperature inside to a degree too intense for the good of your plants.

It will be readily understood from what I have said above that in order to attain success in the management of a hotbed great care will have to be exercised 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 day when ventilation should be given, frequency of watering, and other matters which cannot be touched on here because of a more or less local character.

Plants in the hotbed should be watered cautiously. An over-supply will often cause the seedlings to "damp off," and a lack of sufficient moisture at the roots will speedily result 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 of place. It may puzzle one to tell when _just enough_ has been given. This is best determined by an examination of the soil. If moderately moist there is plenty of moisture below.

X

SMALL GARDENS

Many persons who would like to grow flowers and vegetables do not attempt to grow any because they do not consider that they have a place large enough to justify them in doing so.

Here is where they make a mistake. A garden need not be a large one to be enjoyable. A few plants are better than none. It is possible to make a bit of garden more satisfactory than a large one because it will be more likely to get more attention than would be given to the larger one, and attention is one of the important features of any successful garden.

There will, in the majority of cases, be little nooks and corners here and there about the home grounds in which some plants can be grown by those disposed to make the most of existing conditions. These, if not improved, will be pretty sure to be given over to weeds, or to the accumulation of rubbish of one kind or another, and they will detract from the tidy and clean appearance which should characterize the home everywhere. If the owners of these bits of ground--these possibilities for adding to the attractiveness of home--could be made to realize the amount of pleasure they could be made to afford with very little exertion on their part, the general work of civic improvement societies would be most beneficial, and this would be done at the very place where civic improvement ought to start--the home. There can be no real and lasting improvement in civic undertaking unless the individual home takes up the matter. The civic improvement society that starts out with the idea of improving things generally, but does not begin the good work _at the home_ is working on the idea of making clean the outside of the cup and ignoring the condition inside it. Just as the home is the foundation of society, so must it be made the pivotal point at which any substantial and lasting improvement finds its beginning.

Because the scattered places about the small home in which few plants could be grown will not admit of bed-making, or the "designs" which many persons seem to think indispensable in gardening, is no good reason why we should not take advantage of and make the most of them. If one lives in a community where there are German families he will be surprised at the amount of vegetables they grow in each home-lot. Not an inch of soil is allowed to go to waste. A large amount of the food of the family is grown in places which most Americans would overlook, simply because of the prevailing idea that unless one can do things on a large scale it is not worth while to attempt doing anything. The German has been brought up to not "despise the day of small things," and he profits by the advice. As we might, if we would, and, I am glad to say, as more and more are profiting by year by year as they become aware of the fact that much can be done where conditions are limited.

I would not advise much mixing of varieties. On the contrary, I would prefer to give over each little piece of ground to one plant. Those of low habit I would have near the path, giving the places back of them to taller-growing kinds. Of course, in the majority of small homes, there is not much chance for exercising a choice in the location of one's flowering or vegetable plants; still, it is well to study the possibilities for general effect, and do all that can be done to secure pleasing results. Where plants that grow to a height of three feet are grown, the best place for them is at the rear, or along the boundary of the lot, where they will serve as a background for plants of lower habit.

Children should be encouraged to take an interest in the cultivation of small gardens. They will do this if the parents are willing to help them a little at the start. Show them how to spade up the soil in spring, and how to work it over and over until it is fine and mellow. They will make play of this part of garden work, as it is as natural for a child to dig in the dirt as it is for a pig to wallow in a mud-puddle. Add some kind of fertilizer to the soil, and explain to the boys and girls that it is food for the plants that are to be. Show them how to sow seed, and tell them all you can about the processes of germination, and encourage them to watch for the appearance of the seedlings. In a short time you will have aroused in them such interest in the work they have undertaken that it will be as fascinating to them as a story, and nature will take delight in writing it out for them in daily instalments that constantly increase in interest. The ability to know plants and how to grow them ought to be a part of every child's education.

Don't let a bit of ground go to waste. Have flowers and vegetables, even if there isn't room for more than half a dozen plants--or only _one_ plant for that matter, for that one solitary plant will be a great deal better than none at all.

XI

LEFT-OVERS

There are more ways than one to secure fertilizers and fine soil for the small garden. If sward is cut from the roadside, chopped into small pieces, and stored away in some corner of the yard that is convenient to get at, and the soapsuds from wash-day are poured over it each week, it will, in a short time, if stirred frequently, become a most excellent substitute for leaf-mold. The grassroots, when decayed, will become a vegetable fertilizer which will be found extremely valuable in the culture of such plants as require a light, rich soil, especially when small.

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Some quite artistic effects can be secured in the vegetable-garden by the exercise of a little thought. The large-leaved beet has foliage of a dark, rich crimson quite as ornamental as that of many plants used by gardeners to produce the "tropical effects" which many persons admire. When planted in the background, with fine-foliaged plants like carrot or parsley in front of it, the effect will be extremely pleasing because of the contrast of color, and also of habit. The red pepper, planted where it can show its brilliantly colored fruit against the green of some plant, will give a bit of brightness that will not fail to be appreciated by those who have a keen eye for color-harmony. It is well to plan for these touches of the artistic, even in the vegetable garden.

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Tomatoes are often grown on racks and trellises. Where this is done there will be no danger of the fruit's decaying, as is often the case when the plants are given no support and their branches come in contact with the ground.

It is a good idea to scatter clean, dry straw under the plants after they begin to set fruit.

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It is also a good plan to pinch off the ends of some of the tomato-vines after the first liberal setting of fruit. This throws the strength of the plant into the development of the fruit that has set, instead of into the production of new branches which are not needed. It also hastens the maturity of it. If the tomato is allowed to do so it will keep on growing and blooming and setting fruit throughout the entire season, and as a natural consequence much of it will be immature when frost comes. It is well to prevent this wasting of the plant's forces by shortening the main branches of it in August and September.

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In the chapter devoted to the mention of the best varieties of vegetables to plant, I neglected to say a good word for sage and summer savory, both of which the housewife will find very useful in seasoning soups, sausage, and other articles of food. If cut when in their prime and hung in the shade to dry, all their flavor will be retained. When perfectly dry, rub the leaves from the stalks, pulverize them well, and store in paper bags to prevent the loss of their flavor.

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Dill and caraway seed are often used in cookery, and, as "variety is the spice of life," it may be well for the housewife to grow a few plants of each. The writer has a very vivid recollection of grandmother's caraway cookies, and many of the present generation declare a liking for pickles flavored with dill.

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To add to the attractive appearance of the table in winter I would advise growing a few plants of the red or purple cabbage to work up in slaws and salads. Beets are capable of giving a bit of color to the table that will be as pleasing to the eye as the taste of this vegetable is delightful to the palate. A root of parsley, potted in fall, will not only afford much material for the garnishing of the various dishes to which the housewife likes to add a touch of this kind, but it can be made the basis of a really beautiful table decoration. A few bright flowers thrust in among its crinkly foliage will be quite as effective as many more pretentious decorative schemes.

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The amateur gardener may begin work with the belief that one crop in a season is all he can expect from his garden. He will soon discover his mistake. The early radishes and the first crop of lettuce will mature before midsummer, and the ground they occupied can be planted to later varieties from which a fully developed second crop can be expected. Or other vegetables, like beets and onions, can be planted where they grew, to furnish material for the pickling season. After the early potatoes have been dug the ground they occupied should not be allowed to lie idle. Something can be planted there for fall use. To make the garden the greatest possible source of profit, not a foot of it should be suffered to go to waste at any time during the growing season.

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Radishes would be well worth growing for their beauty alone. A plate of them, nested in their own green foliage gives the breakfast-table a touch of bright color that adds the charm of beauty to the food with which it is associated. The writer believes in making the table as attractive in appearance as the food on it is toothsome whenever it is possible to do so.

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I notice that I have overlooked the pumpkin. The oversight was unintentional, and I beg the pardon of the vegetable without which the housewife would be "lost" along about Thanksgiving-time.

The pumpkin is out of place in the small garden because of its rampant growth, but a few plants of the New England Pie variety should be grown wherever there is room for it, to supply material for the delicious pumpkin pies most of us enjoy so much in winter. Well-ripened specimens keep well when stored in cool, dry cellars, if placed on racks or shelves that will prevent them from coming in contact with the cold, damp cellar-bottom.

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If frost nips the tomato-vines before all their fruit is fully ripened, pull them up and hang them against a wall where the sun can get at them. Hang blankets over them if the nights are cold. Here they will ripen as perfectly as on the vines in the garden, and one can enjoy fresh fruit from them until the coming of very cold weather.

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Before cold weather sets in go over the garden, be it large or small, and gather up every bit of rubbish that can be found. Pull up the dead plants and burn them. Store racks and trellises under cover for use another season. If these are properly taken care of they will last for several years, but if left exposed to the storms of winter they will be short-lived.

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Dig a quantity of parsnips and salsify to be stored in the cellar for winter use. Cover the strawberry-bed with leaves or straw, spreading lightly. Coarse litter from the barn-yard is often used for this purpose, but it is objectionable because of its containing so many weed-seeds.

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Many experienced gardeners advocate plowing or spading the garden in fall. This, they claim, helps to kill the larvæ which insects have deposited in the soil, and it puts the ground in good working condition earlier in spring. But it will have to be gone over in spring to incorporate with it whatever fertilizer is made use of.

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Fresh barn-yard manure should never be used. It ought to lie for at least a season before applying it to the vegetable-garden. Give it a chance to ferment and kill many of the seeds that are in it.

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If the soil of the garden contains considerable clay, and is rather stiff in consequence, the application of coarse sand, old mortar, and coal-ashes will lighten and greatly improve it.

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Do not allow grass or weeds to grow on any of the unused soil in or about the garden, for insects will congregate there and make it the base from which to make their raids upon the plants you set out to grow.

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We are often advised to apply a dressing of salt to the asparagus-bed. I have never been able to see that the plants received any direct benefit from it, but if it is scattered quite thickly over the ground it will prevent weeds from growing, thus benefiting the plants indirectly.

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Asparagus is often attacked by a sporadic growth which causes the foliage to look rusty, hence the term, asparagus-rust. As soon as it is discovered, cut the tops and burn them. If allowed to remain the plants will likely be attacked next season, as the spores are not killed by cold.

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If the bugs and beetles that attack young plants of cucumber, squash, and melon do not yield promptly to the application of dry road-dust, fine coal-ashes, or land-plaster, it may be well to cover frames with fine wire netting, such as door- and window-screens are made from, and put over the plants. Care should be taken to see that these frames fit the ground snugly, or have earth banked up about them, to prevent the enemy from crawling under. After the plants have made their third or fourth leaves the beetle will not be likely to injure them.

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I am often asked why writers on gardening matters never advise the use of home-grown seed. One answer to this query is this: In the ordinary garden plants stand close to one another, and the varieties we grow are almost sure to mix, by one variety being pollenized by another. The seed from these plants will seldom produce plants like either parent variety. Sometimes they may be equal to them in most respects, but we cannot depend on their being so. Therefore, if we desire to grow superior varieties that are of pure blood, it becomes necessary for us to procure fresh seed each season from dealers who take pains to see that there shall be no "mixing" among their plants.

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Every season some enterprising seedsman comes out with an announcement that he has developed or discovered a remarkable new variety of some standard vegetable so far superior to any other variety on the market that, as soon as its merits become fully known, it will drive all competitors out of the field. Of course this new candidate for favor is offered at a fancy price, "because the supply is limited, and the demand for it is increasing to such an extent that the entire stock will soon be sold out. Order at once, to avoid disappointment." Don't be in a hurry to take this advice. Wait until next season. The chances are that you will hear nothing more about it. We have so many very excellent varieties now that there is no reason why we should ask for anything better. If the "novelty" is the possessor of real merit you will be sure to hear about it later, but it is hardly likely to prove an improvement on what we already have, for it is hard to imagine anything superior to the standard varieties of vegetables that we have at present.

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I would not advise purchasing seed at the general store. Some of this may be reliable, but so much of it is inferior that one cannot afford to run the risk of experimenting with it. It is the part of wisdom to purchase where you can feel sure of getting just the variety you want.

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