THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS 



173 



Manure-heated greenhouse. 



of the difficulty of reaching the farther side of the bed from 

 the single walk. 



If the' hotbed were high enough and broad enough to allow a 

 man to work inside, we should have a forcing-house. Such a 

 structure is shown in Fig. 207, upon one side of which the manure 

 and soil are already in 

 place. These manure- 

 , heated houses are often 

 very efficient, and are 

 a good make-shift un- 

 til such time as the 

 gardener can afford ^to 

 put in flue or pipe heat. 

 Hotbeds may be 

 heated by means of 

 steam or hot water. They can be piped from the heater in 

 a dwelling-house or greenhouse. Fig. 208 shows a hotbed with 

 two pipes, in the positions 7, 7 beneath the bed. The earth 

 is shown at 4, and the plants (which, in this case, are vines) 



are growing upon a rack, at 6. 

 There are doors in the end of 

 the house, shown in 2, 2, which 

 may be used for ventilation or 

 for admitting air underneath 

 the beds. The pipes should not 

 be surrounded by earth, but 

 should run through a free air 



208. Pipe-heated hotbed. SpaCC. 



It would scarcely pay to put in a hot water or steam heater 

 for the express purpose of heating hotbeds, for if such an ex- 

 pense were incurred, it would be better to make a forcing-house. 

 Hotbeds may be heated, however, with hot-air flues with very 

 good results. A home-made brick furnace may be constructed 

 in a pit at one end of the run and underneath a shed, and the 



