272 
HOT-BEDS. 
ing and adorning the ways and hedges where 
people travel, says Gerard, I have named it 
the Traveller's Joy. 
Though less prized in gardens than many 
of its compeers, it it, nevertheless, useful from 
the rapid nature of its growth, adapting it to 
cover naked wall?, arbours, or buildings which 
it may be desirable to screen from the eye : it 
is also appropriately introduced in a garden 
wilderness, or imitation of rural scenery ; but 
beyond this it is not a favourite in cultivation. 
The French gardeners are said to use the 
twigs, instead of withes, for tying up their 
plants ; and they make very neat-looking bas- 
kets, as well as beehives, from them when 
peeled : the twigs are in the best state for 
making these articles in winter, and their 
flexibility is increased by holding them to the 
fire before using them. Both the fruit and 
leaves of this plant are acrid and vesicant, 
producing irritation and inflammation, and are 
dangerous when taken internally ; the leaves 
have been used as a rubefacient in the treat- 
ment of rheumatism. If the herb is eaten 
fresh, it is poisonous to cattle, but if collected 
and dried, it loses its volatile property, and 
becomes good fodder. The young tender 
shoots, both of C. vitalba, and C. flammula, 
are said to be gathered in Italy by the country 
people, and boiled as a potherb. 
HOT-BEDS. 
Notwithstanding the many advantages 
which are proffered by hot-water apparatus, 
it will be long before the old-fashioned 
Hot-bed be turned out of use ; and those 
who manage them properly can maintain the 
heat with great regularity for a long period ; 
besides which, the dung is just as fit for use 
when done with, or at any rate nearly so, as 
it would be before it has formed the Hot-bed. 
It is true that inexperienced persons, in form- 
ing Hot-beds of dung, too frequently use the 
material in an unfit state ; sometimes it has 
lain too long in the stable, heap, or hole, and 
has began to scorch inside ; sometimes it is 
taken from them in a pretty good condition 
and laid in a heap at once, where the heat 
would be violent and short-lived. The proper 
condition can only be attained by shaking out 
every fork-full of it loosely, to let the air 
through it all ; and every foot or two, as the 
new heap is made, should be sprinkled with 
water, unless it be already very moist. It 
should be thus turned over and shook out 
until it is all in one heap again ; here it will 
ferment, and by putting a long stake into it, 
to reach the centre, you may feel whether it 
is getting too warm. If it be heating too 
much, shake it all out again into another heap, 
and water it where it dries. In shaking it 
out, the top will go to the bottom of the new 
heap, and you should contrive also to have 
the outside stuff of the old heap in the middle 
of the new, and vice versa. Water every foot 
of it, by gently sprinkling from a water-pot, 
with the rose on the spout. Again put in 
the stake, and when the heat is getting 
moderated a little, you may mark out your 
space, and build your heap for the reception of 
the frame and glass ; but, as you shake it out 
this time, keep patting it down with the fork, 
not to keep it too close, but to keep it well 
together. The space you intend it to occupy 
should be marked out with four stakes stuck 
in the ground the height you intend it to 
be, or thereabouts ; and this space should be 
about one foot clear all round the frame : 
and it should be built quite four feet high 
at first. It will sink nearly a foot. In build- 
ing this square heap, you should be careful 
to press down all over alike ; when this is 
done the stake should be driven in to reach 
the centre of the heap, that you may draw 
it out to feel the heat every day ; and when 
it rises a little, put on the box or frame, and 
three inches thickness of good loamy soil from 
rotted turfs, whether you are going to grow 
things in pots, or cucumbers, or melons in the 
soil itself, or sow seeds in, it is of no conse- 
quence : the soil keeps down the rank steam 
which would come through the dung if not so 
covered. The frame-glass should then be put 
on and covered close. In the day-time, if the 
heat be too strong, it may be wetted consider- 
ably ; but, if it be only moderate, lift the light 
a little behind to let out the steam. The bed 
in this state is fit for any thing — for Dahlias to 
break, or strike in. Annuals sown in pots will 
do after the heat has gone off a little ; but for 
Balsams, and Cockscombs, which are pricked 
out nearly as soon as they are up, it will not 
be too hot now. The seeds of Cucumbers and 
Melons may also be sown, though they ought 
to be ready to put out, to have all the benefit 
of the heat from the first ; still they will 
do sown two in a pot, and heated in the same 
bed they are to be grown in. We are not 
here giving the management of the contents 
of the bed, but rather of the bed itself. When 
the heat declines, which, as a matter of course, 
it will in time, it must be reinstated with fresh 
linings of hot dung ; a supply of which must 
be kept for the purpose. With a fork you 
must remove all the dung that projects in 
front of the frame, straight down to the 
ground, and even undermine it a little ; and 
against it pile up hot dung to fill the space 
occupied by that which was taken away ; and 
there must be more in quantity, so as to form 
a bank up against it. This will revive the 
