HOW TO FORM A HOT-BED. 249 



897. To make the frame, take two-inch stuff and spike 

 it to corner posts or joists, making the back side twice as 

 high as the front, so as to give the proper inclination to 

 the sashes. The frame may be four or five feet wide, and 

 nine or twelve feet long. If the back and front are 

 fastened by iron bolts and screws, the frame can easily be 

 taken to pieces and laid away when not in use. 



898. A bed of nine feet long will require three sashes. 

 Where the sashes meet, a piece of wood three inches wide 

 and two thick, should be set in from the back to front for 

 the sashes to run upon, and it may extend back a foot or 

 two beyond the body of the frame. 



899. Select a south-east exposure. Dig down one foot, 

 making the hole six inches larger every way than the 

 frame. Drive down joists at the corners, and nail to their 

 outsides two-inch plank, letting the top come up about to 

 the top of the ground, the size of this structure corres 

 ponding to that of the frame, so that the latter will set 

 firmly upon it. The bed itself should be made about the 

 middle of March. 



900. For the heating material, take coarse fresh manure 

 from the horse stables, shake it up well and mix thor 

 oughly, then put it evenly into the bed, beating it down 

 with the fork, but not treading upon it. Raise it up two 

 feet or so, the back part higher than the front, and make 

 the whole about six inches higher than it is intended to 

 have it stand, to allow for settling. 



901. To get a steady and long heat, alternate layers of 

 tan bark and manure may be used, or a mixture of leaves 

 with the manure, will do. Something of the kind is 

 important, to make the heat hold out well. 



902. The sashes may be put on after the bed is formed, 

 and the heat will begin to rise in two or three days, when 



