After a little practice any one can make and manage a simple hot-bed.
For a common family one twelve by four feet will be large enough, and
nine by four will answer for a small family. _Frame._—The frame should
be made of two-inch stuff (pine or poplar). The back must be as high
again as the front, in order to give the right inclination to the
sash. The ends should be nailed fast to corner posts, say four inches
square. The back and front are to be attached to those parts by iron
bolts, which may be screwed or unscrewed at pleasure. The frame may be
taken to pieces, if so made, and put away during the season it is not
in use. A frame twelve by four, will take four sash of three feet
wide, the other sized frame will take three sash. Where the sash meet,
a piece of wood three inches broad and two thick, should be let in
from back to front, for the sash to run upon, and it may be allowed to
extend back for two feet beyond the body of the frame. Three coats of
paint should be put on the outside and inside of the frame, and then,
with good care, it will last twenty years. Mark out the ground six
inches larger every way than your frame. Dig it out a foot deep. Take
fresh, strong horse-dung. Shake it up and mix it thoroughly. Lay it
into the bed evenly, beating it down with the back of the fork, _but
never treading it_. Raise the bed three feet above the surface, making
the thickness in all four feet. In a week’s time this will have
settled six or eight inches. We have for the sake of a gentler and
longer continued heat, laid alternate layers of manure and _tan-bark_,
and thus far it has done well with us. Put on the frame and sash and
let it stand till the heat begins to raise, which will be two or three
days. Then raise the sash to let the steam pass off. In about four
days take off the frame, put on about six inches of light, good soil,
evenly, all over the bed; replace the frame, and in a day thereafter
it will be ready for seed.
Cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, celery,
cucumbers, lettuce, together with savory herbs, as sweet marjoram,
sweet basil, thyme, sage, lavender, etc., etc. may be sown in drills
in the soil prepared as above.
It is difficult to give, on paper, the directions for the care of the
bed. The greatest dangers of all, are that of _burning_ the plants by
excessive heat, or of damping them off, by too little air. These evils
must be guarded against by the admission of as much air as possible.
In mild days let the sash be partly open all day, and in very cold
days, endeavor to procure a half hour even, at mid-day, for raising
the sash and airing the plants. As they grow up, if crowded, they
should be thinned out, so as not to run up spindling.