ni.] 



AND GREEN-HOrSES. 



35 



front, and at the two ends, which board ought to come on the out- 

 sides of the four stakes, and to be held up by four pegs. You have 

 then a true guide for making the bottom of the bed ; and you be- 

 gin by putting a little of the longest of the dung just at the bottom. 

 Then you go on shaking the dung into this sort of box, dividing 

 straw from straw, and mixing long and short duly together, in the 

 same manner as was before directed in the case of the conical heaps, 

 and taking care to keep beating the dung down with the prong in 

 every part of the bed. When you have shaken on dung to the 

 thickness of four or five inches, beat all over again, and so on 

 at every four or five inches deep, until the work be finished. 

 When you get to the top of the boards, you will proceed very well 

 without any ; but you must be very careful to keep the outsides and 

 ends perfectly upright ; for this purpose, great care must be taken 

 that the stakes at the four corners of the bed be placed perpendicu- 

 larly. Strain the line now-and-then from stake to stake, and that 

 will be your guide. Particular care must be taken to keep the 

 edges of the bed well-beaten as you proceed ; for, if you fail to 

 do this they will sink more than the middle will sink, and then 

 there ^vill be a crack in the earth in the middle of the bed. As 

 you proceed, the perpendicular sides and ends ought to be well 

 beaten also ; and, when the work is finished, it ought to be a 

 building as smooth and as upright as a wall, being perfectly level 

 at the top, and, of course, of uniform height in all its parts. 



bo. When the bed is completed, put on the frame immediately. 

 If the foregoing instructions have been observed, the bed will be 

 about an inch longer and an inch wider than the frame. It should 

 not be more, on any account ; especially if it be intended to re- 

 ceive those linings of which I shall have to speak hereafter. After 

 putting on the frame, put on the lights ; and, as you will not push 

 the lights down in order to give air, you will find that the heat of 

 the bed will begin to rise in the course of t^velve hours, or there- 

 abouts. As soon as the heat begins to rise, there should be some 

 air given to the bed by pushing the lights, or some of them, down 

 four or five inches from the back, or drawing them up four or five 

 inches from the front ; for stench is not good whether before or 

 after plants be put into the bed. In about three days, the bed 

 will be in full heat. Some persons recommend to put a sharp- 

 pointed stick down a foot, or a foot and a half, into the bed, to as- 

 certain the degree of the heat. Your finger is a great deal better than 



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