CHAP, ii.] MAKING HOTBEDS. 41 
tended to raise flower seeds, or to grow cu¬ 
cumbers, is 60°: but melons require a heat 
of 65° to grow in, and 75° to ripen their 
fruit. This heat should be taken in a morn¬ 
ing, and does not include that of the sun in 
the middle of the day. When the heat of the 
bed becomes so great as to be in danger of 
injuring the plants, the obvious remedy is to 
give air by raising the glasses ; and if this be 
not sufficient, the general heat of the bed 
must be lowered by making excavations in 
the dung from the sides, so as to reach nearly 
to the middle of the bed, and filling up these 
excavations with cold dung which has already 
undergone fermentation, or with leaves, turf, 
or any other similar material which will re¬ 
ceive heat, but not increase it. When the 
heat of the’ bed falls down to 48° or lower, it 
should be raised, by applying on the outside 
fresh coatings of dung, grass, or leaves, wdiich 
are called linings. 
When hotbeds are made of spent tanner’s 
bark or decayed leaves, a kind of box or pit 
must be formed of bricks or boards, or even 
of layers of turf, or clay, and the tan or 
leaves filled in so as to make a bed. Where 
