HOTBEDS. 



3 



HOTHOUSES. 



Hokse-shoe Vetch. — See Hippo- 



CRE V PIS. 



Hotbeds are formed of dung, or any 

 other vegetable fermenting material ; 

 but stable dung is in most general use, 

 and is by far the best. When newly 

 brought from the stables, it should be 

 laid in a heap or ridge, five feet or six 

 feet in width, and four feet or five feet 

 in height ; and after lying three or four 

 days, till a brisk fermentation has 

 taken place, it should be turned over, 

 taking care to place what was outside 

 in the interior ; and after a few days 

 more, when a second fermentation has 

 taken place, and the straw has become 

 so tender as to be easily torn asunder 

 with a fork, the dung may be made up 

 into a bed. This bed should be formed 

 on a platform of soil, six or eight 

 inches above the general surface, to 

 preserve it from wet ; and it should 

 be of such a length and breadth as suits 

 the frame or bottomless box which is 

 to be placed upon it. For raising 

 tender annuals, or striking cuttings, 

 the depth of the bed of dung need not 

 be more than two feet, if it be early in 

 the season, for example in February ; 

 but if the bed be not prepared till 

 April, it need not be made above one 

 foot in thickness. When the bed is 

 formed, the upper surface should be 

 perfectly level, or slightly sloping to 

 the south ; and it should be three or 

 four inches wider than the frame on 

 every side. After the frame is set, 

 the surface of the bed may be covered 

 with six inches of light soil, on 

 which the seeds may be sown ; or, 

 what will generally be found prefer- 

 able, the seeds may be sown in pots, 

 and plunged in this soil, care being 

 taken that the heat of the bed is not 

 too great, and that the seedlings when 

 they come up do not suffer for want 

 of air. There *are thermometers for 

 trying the temperature of earth or 

 dung by plunging them into it : and 

 there are others for trying the tempe- 



rature of the air ; but a very little 

 experience Avill render these unneces- 

 sary. The soil should not be warmer 

 than 60°, nor the air than 65° or 

 70°, even during bright sunshine; but 

 if during the night it falls as low as 

 45° or 50°, no bad consequences will 

 ensue. In severe weather, the sashes 

 may be protected at night with mats, 

 boards, canvas, or hurdles, covered 

 with thatch or reeds. Hotbeds should 

 always be placed in a sheltered situa- 

 tion open to the south, and if possible 

 on dry soil. When the heat of the 

 dung begins to fall low, it may be 

 renewed by exterior linings, which are 

 narrow masses of fermenting dung 

 placed round the main bed of duug : 

 but for raising flower- seeds, this is 

 seldom necessary. 



Hothouses differ from greenhouses 

 in being kept at a higher temperature, 

 so as to suit tropical plants ; and in 

 having a fiat bed for the principal part 

 of the plants to stand on, instead of a 

 sloping stage of shelves. This bed is 

 commonly surrounded by a narrow 

 brick wall, two or three feet high, and 

 filled with tan in which the plants are 

 plunged ; but in some cases, instead of 

 tan, or any other fermenting material, 

 there is a cavity beneath the bed, in 

 which fines or pipes of hot water are 

 placed ; and the surface of the bed is 

 either covered with sand, or some 

 other material, calculated to retain an 

 equality of moisture, in which the 

 pots are plunged in the same manner 

 as in the tan. Some cultivators do 

 not use any materials in which to 

 plunge the pots, but merely set them 

 on the surface of the bed, trusting to 

 the general heat of the air of the house, 

 or the heat emitted through the bot- 

 tom of the pit from the pipes or flues 

 below, taking care to keep the surface 

 of the bed on which the pots stand 

 moist by pouring water over it at least 

 once a day. The heat of hothouses 

 for ordinary tropical plants should at 



