OTHER PLANT PROTECTORS 



165 



panes of glass, either sliding in grooves, or laid on and held 

 in place by a stone or a little earth. If we can so trim the 

 box, or will so place it, that the top slants (set it slanting 

 toward the south !) then the sun will get at the plant better. 



If you wish to use a box as large as a soap-box, then you 

 cannot wisely use single panes of glass. They break too 

 easily, and cost too 

 much. Make then a 

 simple sash, of the 

 proper size, to hold 

 the small panes. 

 ' Such small frames 

 as these, varying from 

 one to two feet square, 

 can be bought of the 

 makers of cold-frames. 

 Convenient oblong 

 frames, about three 



feet by one, can also be bought (or made) and either used 

 singly or made to cover a whole row of plants. 



In such small frames as these, plants can either be set or 

 sdwed. Inside a box a foot square an aster or a lettuce plant 

 can be coaxed along ahead of its brothers until it is big enough 

 to flower, or to be eaten, a couple of weeks ahead of them. 



And now to the substitute for glass. To keep out the cold 

 and to let in the sun, we can use common cheesecloth. For 

 our cold-frame, instead of our big sash, three feet by six, 

 holding a good many panes of glass, heavy in consequence, 

 and fairly expensive, we can use a rather flimsy frame of the 

 same size, over which cheesecloth is tightly tacked. To keep 

 the cloth from sagging, there should be at least one brace 

 across the middle of the frame. Any boy or girl who is clever 

 with tools can make such a frame as this, and even if all the 



FIG. 86. A home-made plant shelter. 

 Grooves at the top allow the glass to slide, 

 for ventilation. 



