THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
175 
fermenting long and furiously, will make a first-rate hotbed, 
with an extremely small amount of trouble. It is only neces¬ 
sary to make up a bed three feet deep, and large enough to 
extend two feet beyond the frame every way, and there is a 
hotbed at once mild and lasting. In making the bed, see 
that the manure is moderately moist throughout; if dry and 
flaky, and, perhaps, blue with mildew, throw water over it as 
the work proceeds—not in such a way as to saturate one 
portion and leave another dry, but to make it moderately 
moist throughout. Put on the frame, and then cover the 
manure inside the frame with six inches of good soil, con¬ 
sisting of turfy loam from a heap of top-spit turf that has been 
laying by for a year, with a good proportion added of old 
hotbed manure rotted to powder, and sharp sand, to render 
the mass porous and light. Road-scrapings from gravel roads 
are to be preferred io pit sand; or the sittings of the sweep¬ 
ings of gravel walks answer well for the amelioration of a 
good loam in preparing a seed-bed. If leaf-mould is obtain¬ 
able, it may be employed to great advantage, mixed with 
turfy loam, to cover the manure as a bed for the plants. 
We must suppose, however, that fresh manure only is 
obtainable; and in this case it must undergo a systematic 
preparation, for if heaped up in a crude state, it will ferment 
so fiercely as to burn up seeds and plants, and ruin any and 
every enterprise. Let the manure be well shaken out, and 
laid up in a heap as lightly as possible, and, if dry, sprinkle 
water on it as the work proceeds. In the course of about 
four days shift the whole mass to another spot, breaking all 
the lumps with the fork, and la y it up again. If it happens 
to be short and pasty, as it will be if there is any considerable 
proportion of it drawn from the cow-byre or pigsty, mix with 
it straw, fern, old turf, or other dry vegetable litter. When 
it ceases to ferment furiously, and has acquired a steady heat, 
make up the bed as directed above, in the use of manure 
already much fermented, except that in this case the bed 
should be full five feet deep. In any and every case a mere 
handful of stuff is of no use. To be sure, an experienced 
hand can do much with poor materials, and a one-horse load 
of good stable manure will suffice, under good direction, for a 
hotbed that will stock a garden with dahlias, asters, balsams, 
and many other things. But, as a rule, any less quantity 
than four horseloads is useless ; and so we advise the beginner 
