THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS 173 
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 
‘4 the house, shown in 2, 2, which 
may be used for ventilation or 
2a\TH for admitting air underneath 
H7_ the beds. The pipes should not 
TH be surrounded by earth, but 
->, should run through a free air 
208. Pipe-heated hotbed. space. 
207, Manure-heated greenhouse. 
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 
