Let it slant toward the sunny south, where the glass sash will catch the sun’s rays.
You see, a hotbed is a tiny greenhouse. In both a greenhouse and a hotbed, artificial heat is supplied.
Greenhouses are heated by steam or hot water pipes: ordinary hotbeds are heated by fresh manure, which, in the process of decomposing, gives off a great amount of heat.
Heat, air and sunlight are essential for plants’ growth.
The slanting glass sash catches the sunshine, and holds in the heat which the manure gives off. The sashes are raised a little in the warmest part of each day, which gives the plants air.
The frame is generally about eighteen inches high in back and twelve inches in front.
Dig nearly two feet deep, in a space a foot wider and longer than the frame.
Get ready a pile of fresh horse manure which has been mixed with one-third as much bedding straw or litter.
If very dry, sprinkle with water. When, in a day or two, it begins to steam, turn it well over, and in a day or so more, fill the dug-out space to within six inches of the top.