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THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 10. 
The first is having common garden frames furnished 
v.’ith wooden bottoms, and these supported by posts at 
l ie corners, four or five feet from the ground, so that 
fresh dung for heat may be used below them, and 
around them, without any danger from steam. 
Ferguson was no less a great philosopher, when, in 
poverty and unaided, lie discovered great truths that had 
long been familiar to more learned and erudite phi¬ 
losophers. The young gardener does not show less of the 
creative and thinking faculty, when, unknown to him¬ 
self, he hits upon a plan that had been in operation 
ages before he was born. Close, wooden bottoms ior 
such frames were not uncommon a century ago. Move- 
able bottoms for such frames, that the plants might be 
brought near the glass when young, and lowered from 
it as they got older and larger, were recommended 
nearly a century-and-a-hall' ago, and something of the 
kind was attempted, with success, by the late Mr. Weeks, 
of the King’s Road, the father of the present Mr. Weeks, 
who is astonishing the horticultural world by the case 
and economy with which he heats vast ranges of glass. 
Numberless are the modes, from MacPha.il downwards, 
that have been adopted for using the heat of dung, when 
in a rank state, for forcing purposes; but all formed 
on the principle of admitting the heat without a 
particle of the steam. One of the simplest and most 
effectual modes 1 have met with, where manure was 
abundant, was to have a narrow pit, some five feet 
in width, and from four to five feet deep ; the half of the 
enclosed space to be filled with stones and clinkers, in 
as open a mode as possible, on which the earth 
was placed. The walls were of four-inch work, sup¬ 
ported by piers of nine-inch work; the dung was piled, 
and turned, and worked; the decaying been removed, 
and fresh added as wanted. With manure at command, 
there was no difficulty in securing thus plenty of bottom 
and top-heat, and a moist atmosphere was maintained 
inside by syringing or damping the w'alls. More manure 
would be required for such a plan than when, as in the 
case of our correspondent, the manure in a hot state is 
placed immediately beneath the earth and plants, more 
especially when not intercepted by a non-conducting 
medium. For this purpose, though often used, wood is 
one of the most unsuitable of materials, as it is heated and 
gives off heat slowly. Means of proper drainage would 
also have to be secured. Practically considered, pro¬ 
vided there was a space between the heating medium 
and the soil, so that there was no danger of burning, I 
have never found any bad effects from rank steam 
coming in contact with the lower portion of earth in 
which the roots were growing, provided the earth was of 
sufficient thickuess and consistence to prevent any 
steam or noxious gases penetrating through it. A few 
holes in the wood, therefore, for drainage, would be 
attended with no injury if well covered over. When 
using wood for such a purpose, J have frequently left 
spaces between the boards, and filled up these with 
clinkers, lime rubbish, &c., so as alike to facilitate, 
arrange, and allow the heat to enter the soil freely. A 
great objection to these close bottoms of wood, in ad¬ 
dition to their non-conducting property, is the weight 
thus given to a frame, if strong wood is used, and the 
greater difficulty in moving them from place to place, 
in which their chief utility consists. Were 1 to use 
close-bottomed frames for such a purpose, I should 
prefer having galvanised iron net for bottoms, with 
firm pieces of wood nailed across, to support, and pre¬ 
vent bulging. Lightness, and the free admission of 
heat, would thus be secured. 
Unless lor very early forcing, three feet in height for 
the posts would be sufficient. Supposing that the frame 
was from five to six feet iu width, the dung underneath 
would be easily managed as to turning, &e., and pro¬ 
vided the sides were banked up a little against the frame, 
| it would be best to have a space between the dung and 
! the bottom of the bed. With a condueting-of-beat 
1 material as a bottom, one barrow load of dung below 
the bed will be more effectual than several applied as a 
lining. instead of four posts, it would be advisable to 
have a stout rail all round, and if the place was to be 
used yearly, and wood adopted for bottoming, it would 
be as well to make a platform at once, and then set 
frames made in the usual way upon it, as they would be 
easier moved. The sides and ends of the frame could 
easily be let into a groove cut on purpose, and with or 
without this groove, a good plastering of clay all round, 
1 inside and outside, and kept moistish, would prevent all 
noxious steam entering. 
Unless, however, there was much hotbed work going 
on, and it was thus desirable, by means of such frames 
and pits, to secure the heat that was lost, while sweeten¬ 
ing for common hotbeds, the economy of the whole 
affair would only be more seeming than real, as there is 
a, tendeucy in all fresh manure to heat violently, and to 
burn itself out suddenly, so that frequent additions, and 
waterings, and turnings, must be resorted to, to main¬ 
tain a desirable, equable temperature, whilst a proper 
made bed of sweetened dung will long maintain a genial 
equal heat without much trouble. Another objection 
l against all such modes of merely obtaining heat, is that 
you lose all the benefits of these gases and vapours 
from sweet decomposing material, such as dung and 
leaves, the substitute for which, in promoting a healthy, 
vigorous vegetation, has never yet been found. When 
I did much more w'ith these common dung-beds than 1 
do now, I found it economical, as respects labour, and 
more lasting, as respects a desirable temperature, not to 
work the manure too much before it was made up into 
a bed, but to secure its sweetness by a layer of six to 
twelve inches of old material, such as is easily got from 
a half-rotten hotbed, and on that placing the soil. Even 
then the bed was kept open by a liberal allowance of 
faggots being incorporated with it, which thus admitted 
of heating easily by means of linings ; the great secret 
in securing a continuous heat, is so to build your bed 
as to admit a sufficient quantity of air to keep up a slow 
and regular decomposing process, and not so much as 
would arrest its progress. Many a bed well made has 
lost its heat because the material was too much de¬ 
composed, or packed so closely together that no air 
could get at it to keep the decomposition going on 
Hot-water, it is feared, will render the nice art of making 
a hotbed properly an obsolete affair, unworthy the 
attention of any hut cottagers and mechanics. 
I LITTLE MATTERS ABOUT CUTTING BOXES. 
The second idea of our young friend is, making small 
wooden boxes, from eighteen inches square, with 
bottoms of wood in a similar manner, and then setting 
them at once in a heap of any fermenting material, 
without going to the trouble of preparing it, and using 
these boxes for setting pots of cuttings inside, or 
planting out the cuttings in such a box at once, so that 
all may be moved at once, for giving more heat, 
hardening-off, potting, &c. The idea of these small 
| boxes furnished with suitable small sashes is a good one. 
1 recommended such boxes in preference to hand-lights 
some years ago, and I did not originate the idea, for Mr. 
Forsyth had recommended them as every way superior 
to hand-lights years before. The boarding the bottoms 
of them so as to move them and their contents at once, 
is, for such miniature boxes, I believe, a new idea. 
Here, again, whether for placing pots in at once, or for 
placing cuttings iu prepared compost at once, 1 would 
prefer a zinc bottom, with cross pieces of wood to 
support it from bulging. When such a zinc bottom was 
placed on a heap of warm dung, a moist internal 
