64 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



end boards, about one and a half or two inches from the inner margin. The frame is then 

 rested against a wall or other convenient place, and a piece of strong twine is made fast to 

 the first nail in order of those at the top board, and is then continued down to the opposite 

 nail of the end board, and there made fast; the twine is then continued upwards, and 

 brought down again, without being secured, for the putpose of measuring a length twice 

 that of the mat intended to be made, and is then rolled upon a short piece of stick, with a 

 slit in the end, in which the twine may be placed to prevent its unravelling,., when it shall 

 have been wound up to within one and a half feet or two feet of the nail of the lower end 

 board. A like arrangement of the twine is made with the other nails in succession. Then 

 one man, each side of the frame, takes a small quantity of straw in his hand from a heap, 

 necessarily near by, which had previously been arranged evenly for such purpose, and places 

 it over the nails of the lower part of the frame, permitting the ends of the straw to pro- 

 ject, say three or four inches, beyond the side line. His comrade upon the opposite does 

 likewise, and these are looped in by means of the pieces of twine already spoken of, and the 

 operation is so continued until the mat is made. 



In due time the necessary amount of horse-dung should be saved ; and it should be borne 

 in mind that the richness and heating quality of this manure will depend much upon the 

 food given the horses from which it is produced. If they have been highly groomed, 

 a considerable part of their bedding, which generally accompanies the manure, should be 

 mixed with it, so that the beds afterwards to be made may not be too hot. 



The use of spent-tan is frequently desirable, and especially so where it can be procured 

 cheaply. Professor Mapes, speaking of this material, says: "Gardeners often find that 

 their hot-beds lose heat before the season is sufficiently advanced to part with their use. 

 By mixing with the horse-droppings a quantity of spent-tan, they continue them in heat 

 long after the horse-manure has ceased to be active; and, by such an arrangement, the 

 slowly-decomposable tan is rendered an efficient manure for the next season's operations; 

 for, when properly decomposed, no manure is more rich in the earthy salts than the decom- 

 posed bark of trees. The large quantity of carbonaceous matter resulting from its decom- 

 position renders it retentive of ammonia, while its free, loose character causes soils, 

 otherwise too compact, to be free and fertile." 



In regard to the construction of the frames of hot-beds, it may be well to state that the 

 double-board system for the sides, containing a space of confined air, which is one of the 

 best non-conductors of heat, is now fast coming into use, for by its means there is a more 

 evenness of temperature kept up. The mistake of cutting the glass for the sashes square 

 is very frequent; I will quote Prof. Mapes on this point, as his explanation is very clear. 

 He says: 



" Sashes should never be made with square ends to the glass; where they lap, the water 

 will remain, sometimes in large drops or globules, forming lenses, the foci of which, from 

 the heat of the sun, destroys plants ; but if the ends of the glass be slightly curved, but one 

 drop of water can remain, and thus the joints are always clean and free from the objection 

 before named." 



The best position for a hot-bed is that which will give it a south-eastern aspect, so that 

 the plants may benefit by the morning sun. Decision being made as to the location, the 

 frame is placed upon the ground, and a mark made around its inner sides ; the earth is then 

 generally dug out to a depth of some eighteen inches. The manure, having been previously 

 well intermixed, is placed in this receiver, and continued to a height say of one and a half 

 feet above the surrounding soil, or higher, as in the case of preparing a bed for egg-plants. 

 Indeed the height will depend much upon the quality of the manure, its compactness in the 

 bed, as well as the temperature required. The frame should then be placed on top of the 

 bed, and more manure thrown in, but leaving a space between it and the glass of about 

 eight inches. Before putting in the soil, the bed should be covered up by means of boards 

 and mats, until it shall become sufficiently heated. The mats and boards are then removed, 

 and about seven inches of soil placed on top, which should be made very even, and not in 

 a slanting direction with the sashes; for in such case, at the time of watering or heavy 

 rains, if there be a leakage on the top, the streaming of the water would be hurtful to the 



