28 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



obtainable in guflicient quantity is generally used in preference to 

 any other material ; when it is very straw}- it will be improved for 

 heating purposes by an admixture of nearly an equal bulk of wet 

 forest leaves, or of waste hops fresh from the brewery ; but when 

 the straw litter is not in excess, the manure just as it comes from 

 the stalile is in the best order for a hot-bed. It should be carted 

 from the stable before it has had time to become heated to excess, 

 and piled in a heap of several cords upon the farm, and when the 

 fermentation has fairly commenced, but has not continued over two 

 days, the manure will be in prime order for use. 



As manure heat is almost exclusivel}' used for working hot-beds, 

 the method adopted by the best gardeners deserves description. 



The bed is prepared in the fall, in a sheltered and well drained 

 situation. The south or southeast side of a high fence is the best 

 place ; the laud is prepared by enriching with manure and repeated 

 plowing to work it fine. In November the planks are put down, 

 the back plank being placed three feet from the fence. It should be 

 twelve inches wide, and the front one ten inches wide ; the distance 

 between the planks should be six feet, outside measure, so as to be 

 covered by three by six feet sashes. The front plank should be 

 five inches lower at its upper edge than the rear plank, so as to 

 give five inches pitch to the glass ; the planks should be nearly 

 level as to the length of the bed, as, when one end is higher than 

 the other, the high end always works warmer than the other. 

 The planks are held in place by stakes made of pickets four 

 inches wide and one inch thick, sharpened, and driven into the 

 ground by the help of an iron bar and maul, and nailed to the 

 outside of the planks with tenpenny nails. The planks will need 

 to be braced apart at intervals of one or two rods to keep them 

 at the proper distance asunder, so that the sashes may fit closely. 



The bed thus prepared is covered over with leaves, eel-grass, or 

 other coarse litter to a sufficient depth to keep out frost ; it can be 

 uncovered and put in use at any time during the winter when 

 needed. 



It must be prepared a few days before wanted for use in order to 

 get the manure working well and the bed warm. The preparation 

 is done thus : the loam is excavated for six feet in length at one 

 end of the bed until the pit is twent}' to thirty inches deep below 

 the top of the planks, the depth being regulated by the depth of 

 manure and loam required, which varies with the severity of the 



