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 
Sash-bar. extended, 
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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 rowsof 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 
