BEDDING PLANTS FOR SPRING 199 
After being started and pricked off into flats, 
cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets, lettuce, 
and celery are kept inside just long enough to get 
well established, and then put outside in a tight 
frame. Harden off as well as possible before put- 
ting out, as a freeze the first night might injure 
them. After that slight frost on the leaves will not 
injure them, but if they freeze stiff, apply cold 
water in the morning — ice-cold is just as good — 
and shade until they are thawed out. If very cold 
it will be necessary to protect the frames with shut- 
ters. Beets and lettuce will not stand quite so low 
a temperature as the cabbage group. By the time 
the plants are pretty well grown, cloth-covered 
frames may be substituted for the glass ones, and 
these may be used elsewhere to cover the tenderer 
plants such as tomato and egg-plant. After the 
first of April they will not need any protection. 
Last spring I had several thousand cabbages covered 
twice with several inches of snow, and hardly a one 
was lost. 
Tomatoes, peppers and egg-plants require differ- 
ent treatment. They are heat-loving plants, and 
not only succumb to even a slight freeze, but will 
be so checked by a low temperature, even if not 
touched by frost, that they will amount to little. 
They should be kept growing as rapidly as possible. 
They will also require a second transplanting. 
Those wanted for the retail trade are put a dozen 
