The Canadian Horticulturist. 95 



can be grown to any size desired. I have often grown them eighteen inches 

 high and branched out eighteen inches wide, and loaded with eight or ten fair- 

 sized toraatos. And by carefully turning them out of the pans and planting 

 them in the open ground they will grow right along and ripen their fruit very 

 early. As soon as the large plants show signs of failing for want of plant food, 

 water them with weak liquid manure. 



CHAPTER V. 



How TO Prepare Bed.s and Force Plants for Fruit 

 IN Cold Frames. 



Make beds on good, dry, well-drained rich soil fifteen feet long and seven 

 feet wide. Work the soil fifteen inches deep, and if the subsoil is good and loamy, 

 eighteen inches deep will be none too much. Mix in plenty of well-rotted 

 manuLe, and pulverize all together as perfectly as possible. 



If the soil is heavy and does not contain much sand, mix in about five or 

 six bushels of sand of medium quality, neither very fine nor very coarse, and add 

 one peck of unleached ashes. The sand once in the beds will be there for all 

 time, and the same beds should be used everj' year. Each season manure them 

 well with barnyard manure, well-rotted ; use also a peck of unleached ashes 

 every season. More sand may be used each season if necessary ; one-third of 

 fine sand is not too much on heavy soils. One side of the beds should face to 

 the south, and the north side of the beds should be six inches higher than the 

 south side, when finished. 



To make the frame, take good inch lumber, 14 feet long and 12 inches 

 wide. Take two boards and cut the ends square, and leave them 13 feet 10 

 inches long Take another board 14 feet long and 10 inches wide, cut it in the 

 centre, and use a piece for each end of frame : set up your side boards so they 

 will be just six feet four inches apart, outside measurement ; nail on the ends 

 flush with the upper edges of the sides, letting the ends lap over about equal on 

 each side. The lap on the end, though not used, serves to keep the ends from 

 splitting when being nailed on and taken apart again. I^ three inch wire nails 

 are used and frames carefully taken apart when not in use, the same lumber and 

 nails will serve for at least twenty years. The sash should be all one size and 

 be six feet four inches long, and 3 feet 6 inches wide and contain five rows of 

 7x9 glass. I have found the above size of frame the best and most economical. 

 Four of such sash, cover a bed completely. Almost any size of sash can be 

 used by making beds and frames to suit ; but frames smaller than those des- 

 cribed will not be found as profitable. Set your frame on the bed true, and let 

 the edge of the south board down below the surface three inches. If any space 

 is left open at the back, bank up with earth ; put on the sash close and let the 



