58 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



Fig. 13. 



Hotbed ^yith. manure on top 

 of the ground. 



side, and the plants will suffer. It is preferable, how- 

 ever, to have a pit beneath the frame in which the 



manure is placed. The pit 

 should be a foot wider 

 upon either side than the 

 width of the frame, and 

 should be about two feet 

 deep. It ma}^ be walled 

 with stone or brick. It is 

 very important that it have 

 perfect drainage. Fig*. 14 

 is a cross -section of such a hotbed pit. Upon the 

 ground a layer of an inch or two of any coarse material 

 is laid to keep the manure from the cold earth. Upon 

 this, from twelve to thirty inches of manure is placed. 

 Above the manure is a thin layer of leaf -mold or some 

 porous material, which will serve as a distributor of the 

 heat, and above this 

 is four or five inches 

 of soft garden loam, 

 in which the plants 

 are to be grown. In 

 exposed places, it is 

 always well to have 

 the glass as near the 

 level of the ground 



as possible. Figs. Fig. U. Section of a hotbed. 



9, 15. 



It is advisable to place the manure in the pit in 

 layers, each stratum to be packed or settled down 

 before another one is put in. These layers should be 



