HOT-BEDS. 101 



The following represents a Hot-Bed with four sashes, sown March 1. 



It may be necessary to remind my readers of the necessity 

 of being always prepared to sow Cabbage, Lettuce, Toma- 

 toe, and Egg-plant seeds in hot-beds the last week in 

 February, or early in March ; for this purpose, let some 

 fresh stable dung and rich compost be engaged s ocfc'rehand. 

 Some gardeners make their beds on the level ground, but it 

 is always safest to make them in pits from eighteen hflchcslo 

 two feet deep ;* in order to do this, the pits should be dug 

 in Autumn,or a heap of dung may be deposited on the ground 

 intended for the beds before the frost sets in, and gocd 

 earth may be obtained from the pits without any difficulty. 



The frames should be made of good sound plunks ; the 

 back plank may be two feet wide, and the end ones may 

 be so sloped as to make a fifteen inch plank do for the front. 

 A frame calculated for four sashes of three feet in width by 

 six in length, as above described, should be nearly thirteen 

 feet long, and about six broad at the top. 



The frame being set over the pit, and properly fastened, 

 the fresh dung should be spread regularly in the pit to the 



* When durable heat is required for forcing vegetables, the beds should 

 be made on level ground, in order that linings may be applied to the 

 outside of the frame, which by frequent renewal, will enliven the heat of 

 the bed, and thus bring tender vegetables to maturity, which would 

 otherwise suffer from a decline of the heat. For particular directions, 

 see Observations on Forcing Vegetables also article on Forcing 

 Asparagus. 



9* 



