182 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



HEATING BY HOT-BEDS. 



There is no better artificial heat used for the starting 

 of seeds or growing of plants than that obtained from 

 the hot-bed. The material used is manure fresh from the 

 horse-stable, and wlien they can be procured, it is better 

 to mix it with about an equal bulk of tan bark or leaves 

 from the woods, or refuse hops. If the weather is very 

 cold, the bulk of manure must be of good size, from five 

 to six wagon loads, thrown into a compact round heap, 

 else the mass may be so chilled that heat will not gener- 

 ate. If a shed is convenient, the manure may be placed 

 there, especially if the quantity is small, to be protected 

 from cold until the heat begins to rise. The heap should 

 be turned and well broken up before being used for the 

 hot-beds, so that the rank steam may escape, and the 

 manure become of the proper *' sweetened" condition. 

 It is economy of the heating material to use a pit for 

 the hot-bed. This should be made from two to three feet 

 deep, six feet wide, and of any required length. When 

 a hot-bed is made on the surface of the ground the heat- 

 ing material should not be less than thirty inches deep, 

 and should be at least two feet wider and longer than the 

 frame on which the sashes are placed. Thus, if the hot- 

 bed is for three three-by-six sashes, the actual space 

 covered by the frame would be nine by eighteen ; and 

 for this the hot-bed on which it rests should be twelve by 

 twenty. 



After the heating material has been packed in the pit 

 to the depth of twenty to twenty-four inches, according 

 to the purpose for Avhich it is wanted, or the season of 

 the year (the earlier in the season, the deeper it is 

 needed), the sashes should be placed on the frame, and 

 kept close until the heat generates in the hot-bed, which 

 will usually take twenty-four hours. Xow plunge a 

 thermometer into the manure, and if all is right it will 



