114 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



Boxes. In the case of many plants having small seeds, 

 it is a good plan to start them in boxes instead of growing 

 them in beds, on account of the better care that may thus 

 be given them. When plants are to be marketed it is often 

 best to grow them in the boxes in which they are to be sold. 

 Frequently, too, where plants are started in the greenhouse 

 and then moved to the open ground it is most convenient to 

 have them in boxes. For this purpose boxes should be 

 about four inches deep and the size of a soap or cracker box, 

 which may be cut down for the purpose and thus make very 

 cheap boxes. Of course where the market demands a cer- 

 tain number of plants in boxes, they will have to be made 

 for the purpose. The lumber for these can be obtained at 

 any box factory, and what would perhaps be otherwise idle 

 moments may be used in putting it together at a trifling 

 expense. 



Substitutes for Glass. Frames of the same size as hot- 

 bed sash are sometimes covered with prepared cloth or 

 paper substitutes for glass. Such covering, however, will 

 not allow the sun's rays to penetrate it easily nor is it so 

 effective in preventing radiation of the heat as glass, 

 but under some circumstances it may be very desirable. 

 Sash thus covered may be often be used to advantage in 

 the latter part of spring by alternating it on the frames 

 and thus doubling the amount of sash at small expense. 

 Or they may be used in the warm weather of spring 

 when the sash needs to be removed entirely in the middle of 

 the day. They are excellent for covering beds filled with 

 recently transplanted crops, since the light is less intense 

 and evaporation less under them than under glass. 



A convenient way of forming these sashes is to make 

 frames without sash bars but with one or two wires stretch- 

 ed across them to support the cloth or paper covering. 



