30 THE GRAPE CULTUEIST. 



the bed from twenty to forty degrees above the freezing 

 point, even if the atmosphere without is far below. Be- 

 sides the materials for producing this heat, we must have 

 a structure called hot-bed frames, in which we may 

 control it when generated. These are made of planks of 

 any required size, with a sloping top covered with sash. 

 They may be of any length or breadth, but they are usually 

 four to six feet wide, and of any convenient length. 



The sashes are made without cross bars, and of a length 

 sufficient to cover the frames crosswise. If the frames are 

 six feet wide, then the sashes may be six feet long and four 

 feet wide ; but if the frames are but four feet wide, the sash 

 may be three by four; these are convenient sizes. The 

 size of the glass is immaterial, but six-by-eight and eight- 

 by-ten are sizes commonly used. As there are no cross-bars 

 to the sash, each pane of glass is made to overlap the one 

 below it from one fourth to one half an inch, like the 

 shingles on a house. The more the glass overlaps, the 

 more liable it is to be broken by the freezing of the water 

 which will always accumulate, more or less, between the 

 panes. The glass should be bedded in soft putty, and 

 fastened with tin, the sash well painted ; but put no putty 

 upon the upper side of the glass ; if anything is needed to 

 stop the joints between the edges of the glass and sash, 

 apply thick paint. If the glass is well bedded in putty, 

 nothing more than painting the upper side will be required, 

 and they are far better without the putty than with it. 



The hot-bed may be, as we have said, composed of vari- 

 ous materials, but in any case they should be prepared 

 some time before they are wanted for use. When leaves 

 are used they should be obtained in the fall, and placed 

 where they can be turned over several times during the 

 winter, and a proper degree of moisture retained ; tan-bark 

 should be treated in the same way. Hops may often be 

 obtained from the breweries in a state of fermentation, and 

 then all that is required is to immediately put them into a 



