20 RICHARD FROTSCHER’S ALMANAC AND GARDEN MANUAL 
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Owing to the open winters.in the South, hot beds are not so much used as in 
the North, except to raise such tender plants as Egg-Plants, Tomatoes and Pep- 
pers. There is little forcing of vegetables done here, except as regards Cucumbers 
and Lettuce; and, if we do not have any hard frosts, the latter does better in the 
open ground than under glass. To make a hot bed is a very simple thing. sAny 
one who has the use of tools can make the wooden frame; the sashes may be ob- 
tained from any sash factory. I consider a wooden frame from five to six feet wide 
and ten feet six inches long a very good size. It should be at least six inches higher 
at the back than in the front, and covered by three sashes 34x5 feet. The manure 
ought not to be over one month old; it should be thrown together in a heap, and 
when commencing to heat, be worked over with a fork, and all the long and short 
manure evenly mixed. In this State the ground is generally low, and to retain the 
heat of the manure for a longer time it is best to put the manure on top. of the 
ground—that is, make a bank two feet longer and two feet wider than the frame. 
Keep the edges straight and the corners firm ; when thrown up about eighteen inches 
trample the manure down to six or eight inches, then put on another layer of eigh- 
teen inches and trample down again; place thereon the frame and sash, and fill in 
six inches of good earth. After about five days stir the ground to kill the weeds 
which may have come up, then sow the seeds. In lower Louisiana the ground is 
too wet to dig out eighteen inches deep, throw in the manure and trample down as 
recommended in the North; by a few hard rains, such as we frequently have in 
winter, the manure would become so soaked beneath the ground that the heat 
would be gone. Another advantage, when the frame is put above the ground, is, 
that it will go down with the manure gradually, and there remains always the same 
space between the glassand the ground. If the ground isdug out and the manure 
put into the frame, the ground will sink down so low, after a short time, thatthe sun 
will have little effect upon it, and plants will become spindly. 
