MELONS MANURE-HEATED FRAMES AND PITS. 



ii 



of a brick each time suffices. In lining from the bottom, the hot manure should be 

 applied at the front first before the heat of the bed declines too much, the back lining 

 following in about ten days. 



With only sufficient fermenting material to form one bed, it is best to defer making 

 it up until the beginning of May, 3 feet or more in height, and 18 inches larger than 

 the frame all round. This will retain sufficient warmth for about six weeks, by which 

 time the heat of summer will be almost sufficient to carry on the plants, but if cold 

 weather set in, particularly at the time when the flowers are on the point of setting, 

 short grass from lawns placed round the frames will revive the heat and be helpful. 



Manure-heated pits are serviceable for growing melons. In filling these pits with 

 fermenting material, sweetened, well beaten down, and trodden at the sides, allowance 



K 



Fig. 2. FBAME HOTBED AND MANTJEE -HEATED PIT. (Scale : inch = 1 foot.) 



References : K, frame and hotbed : I, frame, 6 feet wide, resting on bricks at the corners ; m, hotbed, 6 inches 

 larger than the frame all round, for lining from the bottom ; n, linings applied ; o, width of bed when top lining (p) 

 only is used. L, manure-heated pit : q, 9-inch retaining walls ; r, 4^-inch walls, built in cement, pigeon-holed to 

 the height of the retaining walls ; s. bed of fermenting material ; t, 10 to 12 inches' depth of soil ; u, space for linings; 

 v, ground level. 



must be made for settling by bringing it up to- the rafters. The lights being put on, 

 the bed will be ready for soiling in a week or ten days, previously levelling it, and 

 adding more manure if necessary, to bring the surface within a foot of the glass. The 

 soil is then placed in the centre of each light in the form of a cone with a flattened 

 top, the latter being only an inch or two from the glass. By the time the soil is 

 warmed the bed will have sunk enough to admit of sturdy plants being put out, and afford 

 room for their after growth, as shown in Fig. 2, L. The front lining will be required 

 in ten days or a fortnight after planting the melons, and the back about ten days later 

 in the spaces u. The fermenting materials must at all times be kept higher than the 

 pigeon-holes, and the soil should be kept close to the walls, otherwise vapour may pass 

 from the linings into the pit, and destroy the plants. The linings should be brought 



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