. ak 
FORMATION OF HOT-BEDS. 33 
@ * ‘’ 
the bed is considered in a fit state to be covered three or four inches 
deep with mould; observing, if the bed has settled unequally, to leve. 
the surface of the manure before covering it with earth. The seeds 
to be raised may either be sown in this earth, or in pots to be plunged 
in it. , 
The proper average heat for a hot-bed intended to raise flower 
seeds, or to grow cucumbers, is 60°: but melons require a heat of 
65° to grow in, and 75° to ripen their fruit. This heat should be 
taken in a morning, and does not include that of the sun in the mid- 
dle of the day. When the hese bed becomes so great as to be 
in danger of injuring the plants, the obvious remedy is to give air by 
raising the glasses; and if this be not sufficient, the general heat of 
the bed must be lowered by making excavations in the dung from 
the sides, so as to reach nearly to the middle of the bed, and filling 
up these excavations with cold dung which has already undergone 
fermentation, or with leaves, turf, or any other similar material which 
will receive heat, but not increase it. When the heat of the bed falls 
down to 48° or lower, it should be raised, by applying on the outside 
fresh coatings of dung, grass, or leaves, which are called linings. 
When hot-beds are made of spent tanner’s bark or decayed leaves, 
a kind of box or pit must be formed of bricks or boards, or even of 
layers of turf, or clay, and the tan or leaves filled’ in so as to make a 
bed. Where neatness is an object, this kind of bed is preferable to 
any other; but a common hot-bed of stable manure may be made to 
look neat by thatching the outside with straw, or covering it with 
bast mats, pegged down to keep them close to the bed. 
