HOT-BED. 



161 



from October to March ; or be gathered in the spring ; then 

 dried, reduced to powder, and preserved in bottles closely 

 stopped for occasional use ; when it should be previously- 

 moistened with spring water. When steeped and digested 

 in vinegar during a fortnight, this root is said eifectuaily to 

 remove freckles in the face." It is likewise recommended 

 in cases of dropsy, scurvy, rheumatism, palsy, &c. — Phillips^ 

 History of Vegetables, "^"^ — New England Farmer^ vol. v. pp. 

 269, 270. 



HOT-BED. — A hot-bed, in gardening, is a small bed or 

 mound of earth, composed of certain substances, which, by 

 their fermentation, give warmth to vegetables or seeds, set 

 or sow^ed in them, and thus hasten their growth. The fer- 

 menting substances used for forming hot-beds are, stable 

 litter or dung, in a recent or fresh state, tanners' bark, leaves 

 of trees, grass, and the herbaceous parts of plants generally. 



" Stable dung is in the most general use for forming hot- 

 beds, which are masses of this dung after it has undergone 

 its most violent fermentation. These masses are generally 

 in the form of solid parallelograms, of magnitude propor- 

 tioned to the frames which are to be placed on them, the 

 degree of heat required, and the season of the year in which 

 the}/ are formed. 



Tanners' bark is only preferred to dung because the 

 substance, which undergoes the process of putrid fermenta- 

 tion, requires longer time to decay. Hence it is found use- 

 ful in the bark-pits of hot-houses, as requiring to be sel- 

 domer removed or renevved tha.n dung, or any other fer- 

 mentable substance, that can be procured in equal quantity. 



" Leaves, and especially oak leaves, come the nearest to 

 bark, and have the additional advantage, that, when per- 

 fectly rotten, like dung, they form a rich mould, or excel- 

 lent manure ; whereas, rotten tanners' bark is found rather 

 injurious than useful to vegetation, unless well mixed with 

 lime and earth. 



" Preparation of manures. — The object of preparation in 

 these three substances being to get rid of violent heat, 

 which is produced when the fermentation is most powerful, 

 it is obvious, that preparation must consist in facilitating the 

 process. For this purpose, a certain degree of moisture and 

 air in the fermenting bodies is requisite; and hence the 

 business of the gardener is, to turn them over frequently, 

 and apply water when the process appears impeded for 

 want of it, and exclude rain when it seems chilled and im- 

 14* 



