#f HOT BEDS. S£GX: XIII, 



heats, however, are often tQo violent, and laif not long ; 

 yet may they be lined with the fame materials if done 

 in time, otherwife if a green hot bed gets greatly cool 

 it will not be recovered, A grafs bed may be ufed 

 a-s foon as warm, but let it not be overweighted by 

 putting on heavy frames, or more mould than neceflary* 

 It mould rather be worked with hand glaffes, or oiled 

 paper covers* 



Hoi beds are fometimes made of the refufe bark of a 

 tanner's yard, ana alfo of oak leaves ; but thefe muft 

 have walled pits for them, of a large fize, and are 

 feldom ufed but in hat-houfes. A bark-bed properly 

 made, and managed by forking up at two or three 

 month's end, &c, will hold a fair, moderate, and Heady 

 heat, four, five, or fix months. 



The bark is to be got frefh, after it has been thrown 

 out of the vats a few r days, and if not moderately dry, 

 kept a few days longer to 'drain, and if the weather h 

 fair, it may be opened to the fun to dry ; for it will 

 not ferment if it is put together wet. When it is 

 made into a bed it mull be only beat together with the 

 fork, and hot trampled. In a fortnight it will have 

 come to a fine heat, for immediate ufe. 



The pit mould be eleven or twelve feet long, five 

 and a half or fix feet wide, and a foot, or a little more, 

 higher than the bark in front, and two feet higher be- 

 hind, to receive the mould on a body of bark, three 

 feet deep : But if for' the cultivation of any thing in 

 pots, as there will need no mould, the pits need not 

 be lb deep, the pots being plunged in the bark : or the 

 pit may be made level all round, of a depth to hold 

 the bark and mould, on which frames of wood may 

 be fet. Let the pit be funk one third, or one-hall in 

 the ground, as the foil about it is dry or not. 



To cncreaje the heat of a dung bed when it declines, 

 a warm lining of firaw, or hay, put round it, a foot 

 thick, and laid high up the fides of the frames, will 

 recover it for a few days; but a lining of hot dung, 



one 



