Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/16

 8 HOTBED weeks old, of cauliflower and cabbage for ex- ample, may be had for planting out at the time when the outside soil is dry and warm enough to allow of the sowing of seeds, thus enabling the gardener to produce a much earlier crop. The hotbed allows us to extend the season of many vegetables about two months ; for in- stance, the season of tomatoes would be a very short one if we depended upon plants from seed sown in the open ground, but with the aid of the hotbed the plants may be so far forward as to be ready to flower at the time when it is safe to put them out. The usual heating material is horse dung; this is turned over a few times at intervals of a few days, and when in a state of active fermentation is laid up in a regularly formed bed 3 or 4 ft. thick, and a foot wider on each side than the frame of the hotbed ; care is taken to have the manure evenly packed, and it is beaten with the fork to make it solid ; the frame is then set upon the manure; fine, light, rich soil should be at hand, and when the thermometer shows that the heat of the bed (at first very vio- lent) has receded to 90, this is spread evenly over the manure to the depth of 6 or 8 in. ; then the seeds may be sown. The use of one third or one half its bulk of forest leaves with the manure gives a more gentle and more lasting heat. The hotbed for a family garden is made in the manner described, and the frame, usually permanent, is large enough for two or three sashes. In market gardens the method is quite different. The regular hotbed sash is usually 6x3 ft. ; the bars to hold the glass run longitudinally, there being no cross bars, but the glass is lapped at the edges about a quarter of an inch. The width of the bed is the length of the sash, and the length of the bed is deter- mined by the number of sashes ; an excavation is made 2J ft. deep, and of the required size ; this is boarded up with rough boards nailed to posts ; the boarding extends above the sur- face of the ground 12 in. in front and 18 in. at the rear; cross pieces are nailed from front to rear, upon which the sash can slide. The ma- nure is then placed in this pit and the soil put upon it as before described. Mats of straw or shutters of thin boards are provided to protect the bed in cold nights, and to afford shading when needed. The hotbed should be in a sheltered place well exposed to the sun ; if need be, shelter from cold winds is afforded by making a fence, or setting up a wind-break of brush. As soon as the young plants are up they require the same care in weeding, thinning, watering, and loosening the soil, as those in the open ground ; besides this, the sashes must be opened more or less, according to the weather, to prevent injury from too great heat, and when open must be closed should the outer tempera- ture fall, to prevent damage from cold. Unless the beds are carefully attended to in both par- ticulars, an hour of neglect may destroy the contents. Many plants require transplanting, when largo enough, into other hotbeds before HOT SPRINGS they are finally set out. Before setting in the open ground the plants are hardened by gradu- ally exposing them by the removal of the sashes whenever the night temperature will allow. The usual night temperature for a hot- bed is 55 to 65, and that in the day 70 to 80. Where many varieties are to be sown in a bed, it is convenient, instead of sowing the seeds in the soil of the bed, to sow them in shallow wooden boxes 2 or 3 in. deep. Be- sides seeds, roots of various kinds are for- warded in hotbeds ; sweet potatoes are buried in the soil of the bed in order to get sets for planting; dahlia roots are started, and such slow-growing bulbs as tuberoses are best for- warded in this way before putting them out. A little bottom heat will often resuscitate a languishing plant or start a backward one into growth, and a hotbed is often useful as a place in which to plunge the pots of such plants. Where a very gentle and long continued heat is required, what is called a bark pit is used ; in this spent tanner's bark, or waste tan, as it is called, takes the place of manure. IIO I HO, Heinrleh Gnstay, a German author, horn in Berlin, May 22, 1802, died there, Dec. 25, 1873. He studied in Berlin, and was one of the most distinguished pupils of Hegel. In 1828 he became professor of history in the military school of Berlin, and in 1829 professor in the university; in 1830 assistant curator of the gallery of paintings, and in 1859 director of the collection of engravings in the royal museum. He published an edition of Hegel's Vorlesungen uber Aesthetik (3 vols., Berlin, 1835-'8), and acquired celebrity as a historian and critic of Flemish and German art. His works include Geachichte der deutacJien und niederlandiscJien Malerei (2 vols., 1840-'43, left unfinished) ; Die Malerschule Hubert's van Eyck, &c. (2 vols., 1855-'9) ; and Die Heixter- werlce der Malerei torn Ende des 3. Itis Anfang de 18. Jahrhunderts (1865 et seq.). . HOT SPRINGS, a S. W. central county of Arkansas, intersected by Washita river ; area in 1870, about 900 sq. m. ; pop. 5,877, of whom 650 were colored. It has a hilly surface. The soil is very fertile in the river bottoms, and timber is abundant. It is traversed by the Cairo and Fulton railroad. The chief produc- tions in 1870 were 5,796 bushels of wheat, 196,848 of Indian corn, 15,851 of sweet pota- toes, and 843 bales of cotton. There were 964 horses, 3,896 cattle, 1,779 sheep, and 11,- 364 swine. The portion containing the hot springs whence its name is derived was set off to form Garland co. in 1873, reducing the area given above. Capital, Rockport. HOT SPRINGS, a town and the capital of Gar- land co., Arkansas, about 45 m. W. S. W. of Little Rock, 6 m. N. of the Washita river, and 21 m. from Malvern on the Cairo and Fulton railroad; pop. in 1870, 1,276, of whom 296 were colored. It is built principally in the narrow valley of Hot Spring creek, running N. and S., and contains 8 or 10 hotels, 3