III. AND GREEN-HOUSES. 



will proceed very well without any ; but you must be 

 very careful to keep the outsides and ends perfectly up- 

 right j for this purpose, great care must be taken that 

 the stakes at the four corners of the bed be placed per- 

 pendicularly. Strain the line now-and-then from stake to 

 stake, and that will be your guide. Particular care must 

 be taken to keep the edges of the bed well-beaten as you 

 proceed : for, if you fail to do this, they will sink more 

 than the middle will sink j and then there will be a crack 

 in the earth in the middle of the bed. As you proceed, 

 the perpendicular sides and ends ought to be well beaten 

 also 5 and, when the work is finished, it ought to be a 

 building as smooth and as upright as a wall, being per- 

 fectly level at the top, and, of course, of uniform height 

 in all its parts. 



54. When the bed is completed, put on the frame im- 

 mediately. If the foregoing instructions have been ob- 

 served, the bed will be about an inch longer, and an 

 inch wider than the frame. It should not be more, on 

 any account $ especially if it be intended to receive those 

 linings of which I shall have to speak hereafter. After 

 putting on the frame, put on the lights j and, as you will 

 not push the lights down in order to give air, you will 

 find that the heat of the bed will begin to rise in the 

 course of twelve hours, or thereabouts. As soon as the 

 heat begins to rise, there should be some air given to the 

 bed by pushing the lights, or some of them, down four or 

 five inches from the back, or drawing them up four or 

 five inches from the front j for, stench is not good, 

 whether before, or after, plants be put into the bed. In 

 about three days, the bed will be in full heat. Some 



