GARDENING. 



863 



A garden roller will also be found useful in pressing the soil upon the seed after plant 

 ing, thus causing it to germinate more quickly than it would if the soil were left loose. 

 For market gardening, a seed sower would be essential. A garden marker is also a great 

 convenience for marking the place for transplanting celery, cabbages, lettuce, etc. Differ 

 ent kinds of markers are in use, but one may be easily constructed by using a good-sized 

 wheel, to which handles may be at 

 tached like a wheelbarrow; also a side 

 marker to denote the rows, the tire of 

 the wheel being provided with movable 

 pegs, which can be adjusted at such 

 distances as are required for the plants 

 to be set. After properly preparing 

 the land, the rows may be marked and 

 also the place for setting the plants by 

 wheeling this implement over the 

 ground, the rows and place for setting 

 being thus marked uniformly. 



Hotbeds and Cold Frames, 



There are many kinds of plants com 

 monly cultivated in gardens, which it is 

 desirable to start earlier than could be 

 done in the open air, in order to secure 

 early vegetables in the Northern and 

 Western States, while there are also 

 several varieties that will attain a more 

 rapid growth and be more productive 

 if properly transplanted, than if al 

 lowed to grow where the seed is sown. Farmers, therefore, frequently purchase some 

 kinds of plants ready for setting, or start them in window boxes. But the latter method 

 is very inconvenient, and the better plan is to make a hotbed or cold frame, and start 

 the plants that are desired for early maturity, such as tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, 

 squashes, cabbages, cauliflower, etc., or such plants as are needed in an ordinary garden, at 

 little or no expense in money, and very Lttle time or care in labor, and much sooner than if 

 the seed were sown in the open ground. 



This should be located with a southern or southeastern exposure, and in a sheltered 

 spot, and the land be dry and level. Such frames may be of any size, according to the size of 

 the garden, and the number of plants required. A cold frame consists of an enclosed bed of 

 soil covered with glass. In making such a frame, four posts should be set in the ground at 

 the corners to give support to the planks that form the sides, to which they should be nailed. 

 The back of the frame should be about a foot high, and the front four or five inches less. For 

 ordinary farm use, a frame six or eight feet long, and three or four feet wide, would be suf 

 ficiently large. The end pieces should be made to slope from the back to the front, and 

 fastened evenly on so that when the sash is on there will be no cracks left for the cold wind 

 to blow in, or the warm air to escape. The top should be made of glass set in sash, the size 

 of the glass usually being 8 by 10 inches. Old windows will also answer every purpose for 

 covering. 



Mr. &quot;William D. Philbrick gives his method of making a hotbed as follows: &quot;The hot 

 bed, as used by market-gardeners, is a much more simple affair than is usually described in 

 the books. We build a fence, facing southeast or south, using posts nine feet long, three 



GARDEN ROLLER. 



