b THE NEW ONION CULTURE 



when you have the needed sashes at command. Select 

 a well-drained and well-protected spot for the bed. 

 If possible, it should slightly slope to north or south. 

 Dig a pit at lowest end for a simple furnace, and with 

 a few firebrick, some grate bars, and an iron door, 

 build a fireplace. The flue should run under the center 

 of the bed, ending in a chimney at the upper end. 

 The hotbed itself is a simple frame, with a scantling 

 as a ridgepole, say two feet above the ground, and a 

 line of ten or twelve-inch plank on each side. The two 

 rows of sashes, resting on light rafters, and meeting 

 over the ridgepole, form a kind of a gable roof over 

 the bed. 



This arrangement, of course, is simply a modified 

 hotbed. The operator has to get at his work in open 

 air, by raising or removing sashes, as in ordinary hot- 

 beds. Still he has this advantage, that he can control 

 the bottom heat. Whenever he gets ready, and no 

 matter how hard the ground may be frozen, he can 

 start up his fire, and soon get the bed in shape for 

 planting. If you have an opportunity to use waste 

 steam, you should consider yourself especially for- 

 tunate. You may be able to conduct it into lines of 

 two-inch tiles laid right under the frames, and thus 

 secure a reliable and controllable medium of heating 

 your plant beds at smallest expense. It is a chance 

 too good to be neglected. 



But there is nothing to hinder you from utilizing 

 .this same waste steam in greenhouse heating; and if 

 you have the sashes anyway, you can put one up quite 

 cheaply. In the absence of waste steam, a simple flue 

 might be made to answer. The illustration will give 

 you an idea of the construction of building. Put up a 

 simple frame, three-quarters span, and board up at 

 the sides and back. Better have these walls double, 

 and well lined with paper, or the space filled with dry 



