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Like many hobbies that suddenly become profitable, the Schultzes got into their business by accident. When two large hotbeds were offered for sale, they bought them mostly to raise their own plants and have a few extra for their friends. They might never have gone beyond that point had there not been such a clamor for plants that they've had to increase their production every year until now they have seven six-by-forty-eight-foot beds or over 2,000 square feet under glass. There is almost again as much space in use for the more rapid growing plants that can be planted in the open.

IN THE late summer or early fall before the ground freezes for the winter Schultz starts getting his beds ready for spring planting; then when spring comes all he has to do is plant the seeds. As he works from 6:30 in the morning until 3 o'clock in the afternoon at his regular job he doesn't have too much time for this work. At that time of the year the days are short and he's lucky to finish in three weeks.

He first cleans out what old earth is left in the beds and replaces it with a mixture of new soil and leaf mold. The leaf mold has been made up with layers of leaves, manure, dirt and lime and let rot for a year. The exact mixture he uses depends on the type of plant he expects to grow. A cabbage or cauliflower plant, for instance, requires a more loose sandy loam than a petunia. As the type of soil he uses and the condition of the leaf mold vary from season to season, it takes years of experience to tell which is the best combination for each type of plant. The plants will thrive in any mixture, but in some they will grow faster and healthier.

So much soil is carried away around the roots of the new plants each spring that the Schultzes have to buy over ten cubic yards of new dirt a year to replace it.

The beds themselves are made of planks. The lower edge—which faces south to catch the most sun—raises twelve inches above the ground and the upper edge 18 inches. At the bottom lead-covered electric heating cables are placed to keep the ground warm during the growing season. On the top of the plank frames hotbed windows are laid to let in the sun and keep out the cold.

Once the beds are ready for planting, Schultz puts the glass covers on frames and lets the autumn sun sprout all the weed seeds in the soil. After they have begun to grow he removes the glass and lets the young shoots freeze off; thus in spring he has eliminated all weed problems.

EARLY IN spring, long before anyone is garden minded the Schultzes go through their seed catalogues and order some thirty varieties of flowers and another thirty varieties of vegetables which they think are good and will sell. Then in the early part of March, as soon as they can work outside with their bare hands, they start sowing the seeds.

First go in the slow growing plants like tomato, salvia, egg plant, ground cherries, petunias and snap dragons. Some of these seeds take twenty days to germinate. The other seeds, except those rapidly grown varieties like marigold and zinnias, are planted as soon as they have time. The plants with the most rapid growth are planted outside the hotbeds as soon as the weather permits.

From the time the seeds are planted the Schultzes care for the young plants as conscientiously as any mother would look out for her children. This has to be done to make certain they mature at the right time. Yet if by some quirk of the weather, spring bursts out early, their plants are late and anxious gardeners have to wait.

Although the Schultzes have thermostatically controlled heating cables in each of their beds, the weather plays tricks and the young plants become as unpredictable as a child and need constant supervision. If the sun is too hot they burn; if it is too cold they freeze. Last season the sun burned off three windows of cabbage and cauliflower plants (seventy-two square feet of them) before they could get the windows off to keep them cool.

NIGHTS WHEN it freezes or suddenly turns warm the Schultzes have to get up to put on or take off huge nine-by-twelve rugs or heavy canvasses they use to cover the glass frames to help keep their stock from freezing. The heating cables bring heat up from the bottom, but only enough to keep the soil warm and do not keep the upper leaves from freezing without extra protection. The 1953 season was the worst they experienced. A sudden and prolonged cold spell forced them to cover the beds with their huge rugs every night for three weeks.

Covering 2,000 square feet of frames with rugs is no easy job for it takes a lot of running and a lot of rugs. Acquiring enough old rugs is a problem in itself and keeping them is even more of a problem because they rot rapidly when damp. When they get wet they must be dried and if it isn't drying weather their life span is cut to a year or two. Whenever the Schultzes hear or read of an old rug for sale, they call the person and offer him $2 for it regardless of its condition. If no one else is interested they get it for that price. Because of the rug's short life any higher payment would be too expensive.

Covering and uncovering is extremely difficult. When the sun comes out hot there are eighty-four windows that must be removed and stacked at the bed ends. If a sudden cold front passes through or it begins to rain as it often does on many erratic spring days, the eighty-four windows have to be replaced in a hurry.

No fertilizing is required. That was taken care of in preparing the soil with leaf mold in the fall. The soil, however, must be kept moist. That is done with a gentle sprinkling with a hose whenever necessary.

ONCE THE plants have been nursed to the middle of May, the real storm breaks loose. The Schultzes advertise in seven newspapers within a radius of thirty miles of their home. Gardeners arrive in such throngs that cars are parked a block from their house. At this time they have to hire another woman to help with the saleswork. Mr. Schultz is still working at his regular job until 3 o'clock in the afternoon and one person can't take care of all the customers. Mrs. Schultz also gets someone for full time housework during this season.

They try to maintain a normal sales schedule from 7 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'clock in the evening but some early birds are there at 5:30 in the morning and some night hawks at 11:30 at night. They now pay no attention to the early birds and in the evenings when they can, they leave home at 7 o'clock just to get a breather.

The plant sales go on for two months, tapering off to the middle of July when the last cabbage and flower plants are sold.

When a customer arrives he or she can follow Mrs. Schultz or her helper around the beds where the plants are grown and watch them being pulled up by the roots. A sprinkling can or kettle of water is always carried to soak the soil around the plants. This loosens the earth so the roots will not be damaged when they are pulled out. The plants are then taken to a chest-high work bench at one side of the beds where they are wrapped and tied with string. Old newspapers torn to half-sheets are used for wrapping material. The paper makes an effective and inexpensive wrapper.

The Schultzes' business has increased every year to the extent they are always short of plants. They are continually increasing their bed space and the quality of their product as they gain in experience and know more about the business.

ONE BIG reason for the Schultzes' success is their "dozen." They've done the bakers one better by giving at least fourteen plants for the dozen in order to make up for any losses the gardeners may have. If the plants are small, they give more.

"Some people insist on separately grown tomato plants," Mrs. Schultz says. "To keep these customers satisfied, we pull up some of our regular tomato plants two or three weeks before they are ready for sale and transplant them in another hotbed in rows two inches apart and spaced two inches between plants. These transplants aren't a bit better or won't produce tomatoes any sooner than those left in the original hotbeds, but we try to please. It takes a lot of extra work and for them we charge thirty cents a dozen of twelve. The other tomatoes sell for fifteen cents a Schultz dozen. Other plants range from fifteen to thirty cents a dozen depending on the price of the seed."