20 Richard Frotscher’s Almanac and Garden Manual 
THE HOT BED. 
Owing to the open winters in the South, hot beds arc not so much 
used as in the North, except to raise sucli tender plants as Egg-Plants, 
Tomatoes and Peppers. There is little forcing of vegetables done 
here, except as regards Cucumbers and Lettuce; and if we do not have 
any hard frosts, the latter does better in the open ground than under 
glass. To make a hot bed is a very simple thing. Any one who has 
the use of tools can make the wooden frame; the sashes may be ob¬ 
tained from any sash factory. 1 consider a wooden frame from five 
to six feet wide, and ten feet six inches long, a very good size. It 
should be at least six inches higher at the back than in the front, and 
covered by three sashes 3£x5 feet. The manure ought not to be over 
cue month old; should be thrown together in a heap, and when com¬ 
mencing to heat, be worked over with a fork, and all the long and 
short manure evenly mixed. In this State the ground is generally 
low, and to retain the heat of the manure for a longer time it is best 
to put the manure on top of the ground—that is, make a bank two 
feet longer and two wider than the frame. Keep the edges straight 
and the corners firm ; when thrown up about eighteen inches, trample 
the manure down to six or eight inches, then put on another layer of 
eighteen inches and trample down again ; place thereon the frame and 
sash, and fill in six inches of good earth. After about five days stir 
the ground to kill the weeds which may have come up, then sow the 
seeds. In lower Louisiana the ground is too wet to dig out eighteen 
inches deep, and then throw in the manure and trample down as re¬ 
commended in the North. A few hard rains, such as we frequently 
have in winter, and the manure would become so soaked beneath the 
ground that the heat would be gone. Another advantage, when the 
frame is put above the ground, is, that it will go down with the man¬ 
ure gradually, and there remains always the same space between the 
glass and the ground. If the ground is dug out and the manure put 
into the frame, the ground will sink down so low after a short time 
that the sun will have little effect upon it, and plants will become 
spindly. 
