Chapter LVII: Billy Builds a Hotbed

DURING the Christmas holidays the children made wonderful plans for their gardens.

“Everything should be started very early,” said Bob, airing his newly acquired knowledge, “and the best place to start seeds is in a hotbed.”

“I tell you what we’ll do, Bob,” Billy suggested. “Let’s come home in March and build one!”

“Won’t that be grand!” cried the girls with enthusiasm. “We’ll help all we can.”

“Ah! You can’t——” began Billy, then stopped.

* * * * *

So one sunny day in the early part of March, just the very day Eleanor discovered some of the snowdrops blooming, the boys surprised them. About an hour after they came, the lumber and sashes for the hotbed arrived.

“We bought the frames ready to set up,” Billy said, “but a fellow could make one quite well. Even a grocery box, if cut in the right shape and covered with glass, makes a good substitute.”

“Yes, we made that kind at school for practice,” added Bob, and to show how well he had learned his lesson, he started to dig where they had decided to place the hotbed.

Meanwhile Billy referred to his useful note book, and explained what they were about to do. “The situation is very important,” he said, “for we learned at school that a—

HOTBED

should be sheltered from the north winds; so, if
possible, place it on the south side of a large
building.

Let it slant toward the sunny south, where the glass
sash will catch the sun’s rays.

You see, a hotbed is a tiny greenhouse. In both a
greenhouse and a hotbed, artificial heat is supplied.

Greenhouses are heated by steam or hot water pipes:
ordinary hotbeds are heated by fresh manure, which, in
the process of decomposing, gives off a great amount of
heat.

Heat, air and sunlight are essential for plants’ growth.

The slanting glass sash catches the sunshine, and holds
in the heat which the manure gives off. The sashes are
raised a little in the warmest part of each day, which
gives the plants air.

The frame is generally about eighteen inches high in
back and twelve inches in front.

Dig nearly two feet deep, in a space a foot wider and
longer than the frame.

Get ready a pile of fresh horse manure which has been
mixed with one-third as much bedding straw or litter.

If very dry, sprinkle with water. When, in a day or
two, it begins to steam, turn it well over, and in a
day or so more, fill the dug-out space to within six
inches of the top.

Place the frame on this, and bank up the _outside_ with
more manure. Cover the manure with earth.

Fill the inside with earth six or eight inches deep,
and water with a sprinkler.

Put on the sash, and place a thermometer inside. It may
go up to 120 degrees, but in a few days will come down
to 90 degrees, when the bed is ready for planting.

Seeds may be planted direct in the soil, but a more
convenient plan is to fill shallow boxes, called
“flats,” with soil, and plant the seeds in them,
placing them in the hotbed. They are easily lifted if a
slat is nailed across the middle, when the young plants
are ready for transplanting into the—

COLD FRAME

The frame and glass sash of a cold frame are just like
those of a hotbed, but the cold frame is placed on the
ground without fresh manure, sometimes without any
manure.

Usually, the earth is dug up to the depth of a foot and
mixed with well-rotted manure and the frame placed on
_top_ of it. Soil is also banked up on the outside for
protection from cold winds.

An old cooled off hotbed is really a cold frame.

A cold frame is always useful for—

1. “Wintering over” plants a little too tender to leave
unprotected.

2. Transplanting seedlings (young plants) from the
hotbed, where they will gradually become accustomed
to a cooler atmosphere before they are placed in the
outside ground.

Young lettuce plants may be placed in the cold frame in
the Autumn, and will supply salad nearly all winter.

Parsley and herbs will stay green the winter through if
placed in the cold frame.

Some hardier seeds may be started in the cold frame
instead of the hotbed; such as cucumber or melons.

Always cover the sash with burlap or old carpet on very
cold nights, to prevent young plants from freezing.

Before the boys returned to school, the children had sowed in their new hotbed the seeds of the following flowers and vegetables:

Ageratum
Alyssum
Corn flowers
Snapdragons
Lettuce
Radishes
Parsley
Tomatoes
Peppers