20 



Bichard Frotscher' s Abnaita.L' and Garden Manual 



THE HOT BED. 



Owing to the open winters in the South, hot beds are not so muc-h 

 used as in the Xorth, except to raise such tender plants as Egg-Phmts. 

 Tomatoes and Peppers. 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. Any one who 

 has the use of tools can make the wooden frame : the sashes may be 

 obtained 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 Sixo 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 eighteen 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 re- 

 commended in the Xorth : by a few hard rains, such as we fre- 

 Cjuently 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 glass and the ground. If the ground is dug out and the 

 manure put into the frame, the ground will sink down so low after a 

 short time that the sun will have little effect upon it, and plants will 

 become spindly. 



