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Show GROWING EARLY PLANTS IN BACKYARD HOTBED Proper selection of seeds with which to plant a garden is stressed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Agricul-ture. It should be the aim of every home gardener this year to grow a better garden by making the most intelligent in-telligent use of the available space, not only by employing better methods, but by planting seeds of the highest quality. The first cost of seeds Is comparatively small, but it is very important im-portant that the seeds planted should be the very best obtainable. Gardeners are advised to secure the catalogues of reliable seed firms and spend a little time in going over and checking up the seeds that will be needed for planting. Do not be misled by the highly colored and much-advertised novelties, but stick to the standard, well-known and proved varieties, advise the specialists. spe-cialists. Good seeds should never be wasted, so figure carefully upon the amount required and place your order early before the best stocks are exhausted. ex-hausted. Perhaps the seeds can be bought from local dealers. If not, orders or-ders should go to a seed house in some neighboring city, so the seeds may be received In ample time. When they are received, unpack and check them to see that no part of the order has been overlooked; then store the seeds In a mouseproof, ventilated container, sueh as a perforated tin box. They should be kept in a moderate temperature, tempera-ture, and where they will not freeze or be exposed to moisture. Have Early Vegetables. Half the pleasure and profit of a garden is derived from having something some-thing to use just as early In the spring as possible. In many cities and towns the local greenhouse men grow thousands thou-sands of plants which are sold to home gardeners at reasonable prices. It often happens, however, that home gardeners do not have the opportunity to purchase well-grown plants, and must start their own supply , of early plants In the house or In a hotbed If they desire to have their crops mature early. Among the garden crops that may be started to advantage In this manner are tomatoes, early cabbage, peppers, eggplant and lettuce ; even cucumbers, melons, beets, snap beans, lima beans and sweet corn may be started indoors by using flower pots, paper bands, or berry boxes to hold the soil. Where the required number of plants is too great for growing in window boxes, a hotbed or coldframe may be provided. The usual method of constructing con-structing a hotbed is first to dig a shallow pit 8 to IS inches deep, according ac-cording to locality, and pack it full of fermenting stable manure. The manure, before being placed in the pit, should be turned over once or twice In a pile in order to insure even heating. heat-ing. It may then be packed Into tha hotbed pit and tramped uniformly. Standard hotbed sashes are 3 feet wide and 6 feet long, and the size of the bed should be made to suit the number of sashes employed. A framework frame-work of boards 18 to 24 inches high at the back and about 12 inches high in front is placed over the manure' filled pit to support the sash. Use for Thermometer. About 3 or 4 inches of fine garden loam is spread evenly over the manure and the bed allowed to stand four or five days to warm up before any seed is sown. At first the temperature of the bed may run rather high, and it is best to delay planting the seeds in-it in-it until it begins to decline. This cart best be determined by planting a thermometer ther-mometer with the bulb about three Inches below the surface of the soil. The temperature should fall below 85 degrees before seeds are planted. If glass-filled sashes are not available avail-able for covering the hotbed, heavy muslin may be used instead ; the glass, however, makes the most desirable form of covering. Care must be taken to give the bed sufficient ventilation to prevent overheating, as it Is liable to heat up very rapidly when the sun shines full upon the glass. Watering should be done during the early part of the day and the bed given enough air 'so that the plants will dry off before be-fore night. The bed should be closed before evening, In order to conserve enough heat to carry it through the night in good condition. If the weather weath-er should turn severely cold, a covering cov-ering of straw, blankets or canvas may be thrown over the bed to protect pro-tect it. Coldframe Construction. A coldframe Is constructed In exactly exact-ly the same manner as a hotbed, with the exception that no manure Is placed beneath it to supply heat. Before the plants are set In the garden, gar-den, either from the hotbed or the coldframe, they should be gradually hardened to outside conditions by giving giv-ing them more ventilation each day. Finally, remove the sashes entirely on bright days and replace them during the nights. The aim should be to produce strong, healthy plants thnt will make a quick start when placed in the garden. |