THE COLDFRAME AND THE HOTBED 153 
the sun will strike most directly and where they 
will be sheltered from the north. Put up a fence 
of rough boards, five or six feet high, or place the 
frames south of some building. 
The coldframe is constructed practically as in the 
hotbed, except that if manure is used at all it is for 
the purpose of enriching the soil where lettuce, rad- 
ishes, cucumbers or other crops are to be grown 
to maturity in it. 
All this may seem like a lot of trouble to go for 
such a small thing as a packet of seed. In reality it 
is not nearly so much trouble as it sounds, and then, 
too, this is for the first season only. You will have 
a well built frame lasting for years — forever, if 
you want to take a little more time and make it of 
concrete instead of boards. 
But now that the frame is made, how to use it is 
the next question. 
The first consideration must be the soil. It 
should be rich, light, friable. There are some gar- 
den loams that will do well just as taken up, but as 
a rule better results will be obtained where the soil 
is made up specially, as follows: rotted sods two 
parts, old rotted manure one part, and enough coarse 
sand added to make the mixture fine and crumbly, 
so that, even when moist, it will fall apart when 
pressed into a ball in the hand. Such soil is best 
prepared by cutting out sod, in the summer, where 
the grass is green and thick, indicating a rich soil. 
