PIPE -HEATED HOTBEDS 



83 



culty of reaching the farther side of the bed from 

 the single walk. 



If the hotbed were high enough and broad 

 enough to allow a man to work inside, we should 

 have a forcing -house. Such a structure is shown 

 in Fig. 86, upon one side of which the manure 

 and soil are already in place. These manure- 

 heated houses are often very efficient, and are a 

 good make -shift until such time as the party can 

 afford to put in flue or pipe heat. 



Hotbeds may be heated by means of steam or 

 hot water. They can 

 be piped from the 

 heater in a dwelling- 

 house or greenhouse. 

 Fig. 87 shows a hot- 

 bed with two pipes, 

 in the positions 7, 7. 

 below the bed. The 



SOil is Shown at 4, 87> P ip e -heated hotbed. 



and the plants (which, 



in this case, are vines) are growing upon a rack, 

 at 6. There are doors in the end of the house, 

 shown at 2,2, which may be used for ventilation 

 or for admitting air underneath the beds. The 

 pipes should not be surrounded by earth, but 

 should run through a free air space. 



It would scarcely pay to put in a hot water or 

 steam heater for the express purpose of heating 

 hotbeds, for if such an expense were incurred, it 



