184 OF HOT BEDS. t SECT. XIIT, 



The best sort of dun<^ is that of bean straw, next 

 wheat y rye, oats, and barlcij. When the season is 

 pretty much advanced, hot beds may be made of 

 grass mowings, (as from an orchard) and weedy, 

 which is a common practice in the cyder countries. 

 These heats, however, are often too violent, and 

 last not long; yet may they be lined with the same 

 materials if done in time, otherwise if a green hot 

 bed gets greatly cool it will not be recovered. A 

 grass bed may be used as soon as warm, but let 

 it not be overweighted by putting on heavy frames, 

 or more mould than necessary. It should rather be 

 worked with hand glasses, oiled paper covers, or by 

 hoops and mats. 



Hot beds are sometimes made of the refuse bark 

 of a tanner's yard, and also of oak leaves ; but these 

 must have wa.lled pits for them, of a large size, and 

 are seldom used but in hot houses. A bark-bed pro- 

 perly made, and managed by forking up at two or 

 three month's end, &c. will hold a fair, moderate, 

 and steady heat, four, five, or six months. 



The bark is to be got fresh, after it has been 

 thrown out of the vats a few days, and if not mode- 

 rately dry, kept a few days longer to drain, and if the 

 weather is fair, it may be opened to the sun to dry ; 

 for it will not ferment if it is put together wet. 

 When it is made into a bed it must be only beat to- 

 gether with the fork, and not trampled. In a fort- 

 night it will have come to a fine heat, for immediate 

 use. 



The pit should be eleven or twelve feet long, five 

 and a half or six feet wide, and a foot, or a little more, 

 higher than the bark in front, and two feet higher be- 

 hind, to receive the mould on a body of bark, three 

 feet deep : But if for the cultivation of any thing in 

 pots, as there will need no mould, the pits need not 

 be so deep, the pots being plunged in the bark : or 



