28 



SOILS AND MANURES. [CHAP. II. 



from the stable, for the purpose of making a 

 hotbed. 



The necessary quantity of manure is pro- 

 cured, at the rate of one cart-load, or from 

 twelve to fifteen large wheel-barrowfuls to every 

 light (as the gardeners call the sashes of the 

 frames), each light being about three feet wide; 

 and this manure is laid in a heap to ferment. 

 In about a week the manure should be turned 

 over with a dung-fork, and well shaken together ; 

 this operation being repeated two or three of 

 more times, at intervals of two or three days, 

 till the whole mass is become of one colour, 

 and the straws are sufficiently decomposed to 

 be torn to pieces with the fork. 



The size of the hotbed must depend prin- 

 cipally on the size of the frame which is to cover 

 it; observing that the bed must be from six 

 inches to a foot wider than the frame every way. 

 The manure must then be spread in layers, each 

 layer being beaten down with the back of the 

 fork, till the bed is about three feet and a half 

 high. The surface of the ground on which the 

 hotbed is built is generally raised about six 

 inches above the general surface of the garden ; 

 and it is advisable to lay some earth round the 

 bottom of the bed, nearly a foot wide, that it 

 may receive the moisture that will drain from the 

 manure in the bed. As soon as the bed is 

 made, the frame is put on, and the sashes kept 

 quite close till a steam appears upon the glass, 

 when 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 



