52 TOMATO CULTURE 



with manure or earth. In placing them on the manure 

 short pieces of board should be laid under the corners 

 to prevent their settling in the manure unevenly. I 

 prefer to sow the seed in flats or shallow boxes filled 

 with rich but sandy and very friable soil, and set these 

 on a layer of sifted coal ashes covering the manure 

 and made perfectly level, but many growers sow on 

 soil resting directly on the manure ; if this is done the 



FIG. 13 THREE-SASH HOTBED 



soil should be light and friable and made perfectly 

 level. A perspective view of a three-sash hotbed is 

 given in Fig. 13, and of a cross-section in Fig. 14. 



In some sections, particularly in the South, it is not 

 always easy to procure suitable manure for making 

 hotbeds, so these are built to be warmed by flues un- 

 der ground, but I think it much better where a fire is 

 to be used that the sash be' built into the form of a 

 house. A hotbed of manure is preferred to a house 

 by some because of its supplying uniform and moist 

 bottom heat and one can easily give abundant air ; 



