more successful if there is a small heated
greenhouse for starting plants that are afterwards to be set in the
garden.

=Hotbeds.= If there is no greenhouse, a hotbed is an important help in
the garden. The bed is made by digging a pit two feet deep, seven feet
wide, and as long as necessary.

The material for the hotbed is fresh horse manure mixed with leaves.
This is thrown into a heap to heat. As soon as steam is seen coming from
the heap the manure is turned over and piled again so that the outer
part is thrown inside. When the whole is uniformly heated and has been
turned two or three times, it is packed firmly into the pit already dug.

A frame six feet wide, twelve inches high on the north side and eight
inches on the south side and as long as the bed is to be, is now made of
plank. This is set upon the heated manure, thus leaving six inches on
each side outside the frame. More manure is then banked all around it,
and three or four inches of fine light and rich soil are placed inside
the frame.

[Illustration: FIG. 84. THE GLADIOLUS]

The frame is then covered with hotbed sashes six feet long and three
feet wide. These slide up and down on strips of wood let into the sides
of the frame. A thermometer is stuck into the soil and closely watched,
for there will be too much heat at first for sowing seed. When the heat
in the early morning is about 85 deg., seeds may be sowed. The hotbed is
used for starting tomato plants, eggplants, cabbage plants, and other
vegetables that cannot stand exposure. It should be made about eight or
ten weeks before the tender plants can be set out in the locality. In
the South and Southwest it should be started earlier than in the North.
For growing the best tomato plants, and for such hardy plants as lettuce
and cabbage, it will be better to have cold-frames in addition to the
hotbed; these need not be more than two or three sashes.

=Cold-Frames.= A cold-frame is like the frame used for a hotbed, but it
is placed on well-manured soil in a sheltered spot. It is covered with
the same kind of sashes and is used for hardening the plants sowed in
the hotbed. The frame must be well banked with earth on the outside, and
the glass must be covered on cold nights with straw, mats, or old
carpets to keep out frost.

[Illustration: FIG. 85. FRAME TO CARRY THE SASH OF A HOTBED OR COLD-FRAME]

=Care of Hotbed and Cold-Frame.= If the sun be allowed to shine brightly
on the glass of a cold-