STAGING, BEDS, ETC. 105 
the pipes, and these should lie within 6in. or 8in. of the false 
bottom, without any obstruction between. 
Another method of arranging a bed with bottom-heat 
is illustrated in Fig. 71, where over bearing bars of 
inverted T iron are fixed across the pit a few inches 
above the pipes, and perforated kiln-tiles, or pieces 
of plain iron grating laid between them, so as to form a 
perforated false bottom over all. On this is placed a 
few inches of broken bricks, rough cinders, or the like, 
and then some pieces of turfy 
soil, littery manure, or rough 
siftings, to keep the soil from 
being washed down. This 
method may be, and some- 
times is, employed in the 
construction of cucumber 
beds, but being naturally 
somewhat more expensive, 
and as the other answers 
quite as well, if not better, 
there is no advantage in 
adopting it. 
A small hot-bed, sufficient for any ordinary purpose, 
may be constructed in any greenhouse of the usual type, 
with raised staging and two or three rows of piping 
beneath, by enclosing a portion of these with a 43in. brick 
wall, as shown in Fig. 69. A sheet or two of the corrugated 
iron must now be laid on suitable bearing bars fixed 
across a few inches above the pipes, with a layer of cocoanut 
fibre above it, as before, and with a covering of loose sheets 
of glass, cuttings of most descriptions of plants may be 
