CHAPTER XX 
THE COLDFRAME AND THE HOTBED 
M4 \HE simplest form of home glass is the cold- 
frame. The simplest hothouse is the ma- 
nure heated coldframe or hotbed. 
The following directions for making the frames 
and preparing the soil for them are taken from the 
author’s Home Vegetable Gardening. 
For the ordinary garden, all the plants needed 
may be started successfully in hotbeds and cold- 
frames. The person who has had no experience 
with these has usually an exaggerated idea of their 
cost and of the skill required to manage them. The 
skill is not as much a matter of expert knowledge 
as of careful regular care, daily. Only a few min- 
utes a day, but every day. The cost need be but 
little, especially if one is a bit handy with tools. 
The sash which serves for the cover, and is re- 
movable, is the important part of the structure. 
Sash may be had, ready glazed and painted, at 
from $2.50 to $3.50 each, and with care they will 
last ten or even twenty years, so you can see at 
once that not a very big increase in the yield of 
your garden will be required to pay interest on the 
investment. Or you can buy the sash unglazed, at 
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