172 



MANUAL OF GARDENING 



thrust through the earth down to the manure, and the frame 

 kept tightly closed. When the temperature is passing below 

 90°, seeds of the warm plants, like tomatoes, may be sown, and 

 when it passes below 80° or 70°, the seeds of cooler plants may 

 be sown. 



If hotbeds are to be used every year, permanent pits should be 

 provided for them. Pits are made from two to three feet deep, 

 preferably the former depth, and are walled up with stone or 

 brick. It is important that they be given good drainage from 

 below. In the summer-time, after the sash are stripped, the 



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206. Parallel runs of hotbeds with racks for holding sashes. 



old beds may be used for the growing of various delicate crops, 

 as melons or half-hardy flowers. In this position, the plants 

 can be protected in the fall. As already suggested, the pits 

 should be cleaned out in the fall and filled with litter to facilitate 

 the work of making the new bed in the winter or spring . 



Various modifications of the common type of hotbed will 

 suggest themselves to the operator. The frames should ordi- 

 narily run in parallel rows, so that a man walking between them 

 can attend to the ventilation of two rows of sash at once. Fig. 

 206 shows a different arrangement. There are two parallel runs, 

 with walks on the outside, and between them are racks to 

 receive the sash from the adjacent frames. The sash from 

 the left-hand bed are run to the right, and those from the 

 right-hand bed are run to the left. Running on racks, the 

 operator does not need to handle them, and the breakage of 

 glass is therefore less; but this system is little used because 



