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XXIV. On the proper Construction of Hot-bed Frames. 

 By Thomas Andrew Knight,.!*^. F. R. S. $c. 



Read March 7, 1809. 



The most ignorant gardener would feel himself offended, 

 were his skill in making a Hot-bed, or giving proper directions 

 for the form of a forcing frame, called in question ; and this, 

 perhaps, is the principal reason why the structure and frames 

 of all Hot-beds are so perfectly alike. The surface of the bed 

 is made perfectly horizontal, and to give some degree of ele- 

 vation to the glass, that end of the frame, which is to stand 

 towards the north, is made nearly as deep again as the other ; 

 so that if the mould were placed of the same depth (as it 

 ought to be), over the whole bed, the plant would be too 

 far from the glass at one end of the frame, and would want 

 space at the other. To remove this inconvenience, I tried 

 several years ago, the effect of placing the Hot-bed on an in- 

 clined plane of earth, elevated about 15 degrees, making the 

 .surface of the dung and mould parallel with it, and adapting 

 the form of the frame to the surface of the bed as repre- 

 sented in the annexed sketch ; by which means the plants 

 and the mould of the bed became more exposed to the influ- 

 ence of the sun. And as I have not discovered any disad- 

 vantages in the plan I have adopted, I have thought a de- 

 scription of it worth sending to the Horticultural Society : for 

 though the improvement be trivial, it is not attended with 



