ut four inches above the pipe, leaving the aperture
between the earth floor and the bottom of the bed along the pathway open
for the escape of the artificial heat. One might think that the hot
water pipe under, and so near the bed, would dry it up and destroy it,
but such is not the case. In a cellar of this kind very little fire heat
is needed to maintain the required temperature, and I do not know where
else the pipes could be put where they would do the work any better and
be more out of the way.

These beds, for convenience in building them, spawning them, molding
them over, gathering the crop and watering the beds, and removing the
manure after the beds are exhausted, are built against the wall and with
a rounded face, thus giving a three and one-half feet wide surface of
bed in place of one three feet wide, were it built flat. This gain in
superficial area is not so important as it might seem, for the part
immediately next to the edge of the pathway seldom yields very much.
Above these beds a string of shelf beds is arranged which runs the full
length of both sides of the cellar. From the floor of the under bed to
the floor of the top bed is three feet, and the upper beds are just as
wide as the lower ones. The shelves for the beds are temporary affairs,
put up and taken down every year. The cross-bars rest in sockets in the
wall made by cutting out half a brick every four feet along the wall,
and on upright strips or feet one and one-fourth by four inches wide, or
two by three inches, set under the inside ends of the cross-bars and
resting on the cement floor close up against the lower bed. By having
this foot end a quarter of an inch higher than the wall end the heavy
weight of the bed is thrown toward the wall. Loose hemlock boards set
close together form the flooring, for there is no need of nailing any of
them except the one next to the upright face board, which is ten inches
wide, and nailed along the front, by the pathway, to the posts and shelf
board. By tilting the weight to the wall the upright board is firm
enough to hold its place against any pressing out in building the beds.
The supporting legs of the shelves are also nailed to the face board of
the lower bed, and this holds them perfectly solid in place. The shelf
beds are eight inches deep at front, but can be made of any depth
desired against the walls at the back. The cold wall has no injurious
effect upon the bearing of the bed, and many fine mus