o 
Figure 2. 
In transplanting tomato plants, the stem 
•should be set down well into the soil, and will 
<fcake root wherever covered. The object sought is 
plenty of fibrous roots on a short stocky stem 
The temperature of the beds must be Closely 
watched though it may vary considerable. 
The mercury may run from 50° to 80° though 
the mean, 65°, should be as closely kept as pos¬ 
sible. This for tomatoes, peppers &c. Cabbage 
and cauliflower plants require much less heat 
and should never be placed in the same bed with 
tomatoes. In fact very little or no bottom heat 
is required to produce good early cabbage plants. 
Fit a frame as for a hot bed except to omit 
the manure for the bottom heat; cover it with 
sash and sow the seed in February, or early in 
March, and better plants will usually result 
than if bottom heat is used. 
FIRE HOT BEDS. 
In sections where horse manure is scarce and 
valuable, and coal or wood cheap, a Fire Hot 
Bed may be made and run at much less ex¬ 
pense than with manure. These are now much 
used in preference to manure, and give the best 
of satisfaction. The “Manual of Vegetable 
Plants” (advertised elsewhere) gives direc¬ 
tions for constructing Fire Hot Beds, but we 
have made some changes in our manner of con¬ 
structing them since that work was published. 
The wooden floor made as described in that 
work will not last more than two or three 
years before it will decay, so as to necessitate 
rebuilding. We find a better plan is to dig 
the trench as there described, say 2 feet deep, 
six feet wide and as long as you wish your bed. 
With a rise of ten or fifteen feet to insure good 
draught it may be seventy five feet long. 
Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of a Fire Hot 
Bed. The furnace ( Fig. 4,) is covered by a 
small house which may be dispensed with if 
preferred though it makes a very handy tool 
house and a good place in which to do the tran 
planting when boxes or flats are used. Above 
the furnace house in Fig. 3 is shown a sectional 
or end view of the pit and bed. A, represents 
the space in which the plants are to grow. B, 
is the soil which should be at least eight inches 
in depth. The pit should be dug deepest at 
the middle, and a small d rain formed in it and 
covered with small stones. This is shown at F. 
Above this, E, is a layer of spent tan bark or 
saw dust, which acts as a non conductor and 
keeps the bed much warmer than when the cold 
ground comes in direct contact with the warm 
airspace. The space at D, is occupied by a 
direct flue, constructed of terra-cotta pipe, brick, 
or even stones and cement,' running from the 
furnace to the chimney at the other end, through 
which the smoke and draught passes. 
We now build some cross walls of stone or 
bricks, on the same foundation on which the 
the main flue rests, but built up several inches 
higher or to the top of the space C. These 
are shown at A, A, in Fig. 5. This allows the 
heated air which escapes from the direct flue to 
circulate to the sides of the bed. After a coal 
fire is well started if the main flue can be closed 
and the draught all thrown into these crooked 
flues the heat will be more evenly spread. This 
