ABOUT FKITITS, FLOWERS AND FABMING. 176 



H O T - B E D S . 



After a little practice any one can make and manage a 

 simple hot-bed. For a common ftiraily one twelve by 

 four feet will be large enough, and nine by four will answer 

 for a small family. Frame. — The frame should be made of 

 two-inch stuff (pine or poplar). The back must be as high 

 again as the front, in order to give the right inclination to 

 the sash. The ends should be nailed fast to corner posts, 

 say four inches square. The back and front are to be 

 attached to those parts by iron bolts, which may be screwed 

 or unscrewed at plea.sure. The frame may be taken to 

 pieces, if so made, and put away during the season it is not 

 in use. A frame twelve by four, will take four sash of 

 three feet wide, the other sized frame will take three sash. 

 Where the sash meet, a piece of wood three inches broad 

 and two thick, should be let in from back to front, for the 

 sash to run upon, and it may be allowed to extend back for 

 two feet beyond the body of the frame. Three coats of 

 paint should be put on the outside and inside of the 

 frame, and then, with good care, it Avill last twenty 

 years. Mark out the ground six inches larger every 

 way than your frame. Dig it out a foot deep. Take fresh, 

 strong horse-dung. Shake it up and mix it thoroughly. 

 Lay it into the bed evenly, beating it down with the back 

 of the fork, hut never treading it. Raise the bed three feet 

 above the surface, making the thickness in all four feet. In 

 a week's time this will have settled six or eight inches. 

 We have for the sake of a gentler and longer continued 

 heat, laid alternate layers of manure and tan-bark^ and thus 

 far it has done well with us. Put on the frame and sash 

 and let it stand till the heat begins to raise, which will be 

 two or three days. Then raise the sash to let the steam 

 pass off. In about four days take off the frame, put on 

 about six inches of light, good soil, evenly, all over the 



