HOT-BEDS, COLD FBAMES, AND WEATHER. 79 



over. After the lapse of four or more days, according 

 to the season, it will have acquired a steady heat, and be 

 ready for use. The site for a hot- bed, or cold frame, 

 should be on sandy, or gravelly, or well-drained soil, con- 

 venient to water, well protected from north and north- 

 west winds; it must be free from overhanging trees and 

 the shade of houses, but open to the sun from its rising to 

 its setting. Unless the aspect of the bed be a point or 

 two eastward of south, the plants growing at the e ist- 

 ern end will be dwindled by the shade of the frame. 



The site having been chosen, the manure is placed 

 either on the surface, or in an excavation, about six inches 

 deep, in the shape of a solid parallelogram, extending in 

 length and breadth, one foot beyond the dimensions of 

 the frame to be placed upon it. Each layer of manure 

 is evenly and moderately beaten down with the back of 

 the fork, until about three feet thickness is attained, care 

 being taken to have the pile uniformly moist throughout. 

 The frame with glass is then put on, and air is given only 

 during the day, unless the weather is warm, when it may 

 be admitted du ring the night. After two or three days, fer- 

 mentation will recommence, when the bed will be ready to 

 receive its coating of six inches or more of garden soil for 

 seed, for the forcing to maturity of cucumbers, etc. The 

 frame should be as wide as the length of the sash, and its 

 length will be determined by the number of sash. No bed 

 should be constructed, if avoidable, for less than four 

 "lights," and the longer it is, the more heat will be de- 

 veloped, and the more in amount will be retained. 



In whatever manner the frame is made; whether the 

 planks, which should be one and one-half inch thick, 

 are nailed to corner posts, driven into the ground, or 

 secured by battens, the chief outlook is, to have it fit 

 closely in all its parts, and to have the sash adapted to it 

 so snugly, that there will be no openings for the exit of 

 warm, or the entrance of cold air. 



