184 THE FORCING GARDEN. 
soil a foot deep and five feet wide, and of any desired 
length. Turn the soil out on one side, if good; and 
then, having a sufficient quantity of well-fermented 
manure ready, commence to make the bed. But before 
that is done fill up the space which has been dug out 
with some brushwood or faggots—not, however, quite 
to the outside, but from the back to within a foot of 
the front edge. On this brushwood or faggots place the 
dung—stable dung it should be—tread, and beat it 
firm as you proceed, so as to ensure a solid bed of fully 
two feet in depth, and then rake the surface over, and 
beat it with the back of the spade as a finish. 
The bed, if against a wall, should be at a moderately 
sharp lean-to pitch (see fig. 34); but if on an open spot 
it may be made a sharp span-roof. The manure or dung 
must not be over-fermented, 2.e. not exhausted in its 
fermenting power, but half done. When the bed is 
made, break up the soil turned out of the trench below 
and make it as fine as you can with the spade. It 
should be of a somewhat adhesive nature, but not cold 
or poor clay, nor of a dry dusty kind; good by nature 
and made good by manure for other crops that have 
been in the ground; it should also not be too wet. 
If dust-dry, water it before putting it on the bed; it 
should properly be half dry, so that it will adhere to- 
gether when beaten, which it should be finally, so as 
to form a tolerably smooth surface. 
A few sticks as large as the finger should be plunged 
into the bed a foot deep, to ascertain the heat of it by 
pulling them out once within twelve hours, and taking 
hold of the warm end; if the heat is up, and they are 
as warm as milk just from the cow, immediately put in 
the spawn ; this is best done by the thick end of a hand 
