60 The Principles of Vegetable -Gardening 



from four to eight inches in thickness. By this means 

 the mass is easily made uniform in consistency. 



On the filling of hotbeds, Taft writes as follows : 

 "The amount of heating material that will be required 

 for a hotbed will vary with the crop, as well as with 

 the location and season. For zero weather there should 

 be at least eighteen inches of heating material after it 

 has been well packed down, and twenty -four inches will 

 be desirable in mid- winter in the northern states, while 

 six or eight inches may answer when only a few 

 degrees of frost are expected. For eighteen inches 

 of manure the excavation should be made to a depth 

 of twenty -eight inches below the level of the 

 south side of the frame, and thirty -one inches below 

 that of the north side. After the manure has warmed 

 through for the second time it should be placed in the 

 excavation, spreading it evenly and packing it down 

 with the fork, but leaving it for a few days before 

 tramping it. Care should be taken to have the corners 

 well filled, that an even settling may be secured. After 

 the manure has again warmed up, it should be thor- 

 oughly tramped. The bed is then ready for the soil, 

 which should be quite rich and contain a large amount 

 of sand and humus, a compost of decomposed pasture 

 sods with one -third their bulk of rotten manure being 

 excellent for the purpose. The thickness of the soil 

 should vary from five to seven inches, the greater depth 

 being desirable for radishes and other root crops. 

 When boxes of plants are to be placed in the beds the 

 depth of soil need not be more than three inches." 



Only by experience can one learn what is the proper 



