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ElCHAED FSOTSCHES'S AlXIANAC AXT> GrARDEN MaSUAX 



THE HOT BED. 



Owing to the open Winters in the South, hot beds are not so much 

 used as in the Xorth. except to raise such tender plants, as Eggplants. 

 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. 

 T a make a hot bed is a very simple thing, anyone who has the use of 

 :: _s can make the wooden frame, the sashes may be obtained at 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 3$x5 

 feet. The manure ought not to be over one month old. 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 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 inche- : 

 good earth. After about five days stir the ground to kill any weeds 

 which may have come up, then sow the seeds. In lower Louisiana the 

 ground is too wet to dig out eighteen inches deep and then throw in the 

 manure and trample down as recommended in the North. A few hard 

 rains, such as we frequently have in winter, and the manure would 

 become s : s :aked 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. 



