HOT BEDS AND COLD FRAMES 



79 



soil very well adapted to hot-bed work. It is not necessary, however, 

 with our abundance of good sandy loams to delay for such prepara- 

 tion. Any good garden soil with enough sand and fibrous material to 

 take water well without baking will give good results. 



THE COLD FRAME. 



The cold frame is essentially a hot-bed without the heat. 



It 



depends entirely upon sun heat and protection from the chills of the 

 night. It may be of lighter construction than the hot-bed and in 

 ordinary use it is an advantage to have it easily portable or capable of 

 being easily knocked down and set up again. Fig. 2 shows such a 

 frame covered with sash and another covered with close-textured 

 white cloth. Either of these frames can be also used as a hot-bed by 

 tramping several inches of manure into it after it has been placed or 



Fig. 2. Cold Frames With Glass and Cloth Covers. 



a wide heap of manure can be made on the ground and the frame 

 placed upon the top of it. Under California climatic conditions this 

 simple recourse may be substituted for the more elaborate construction 

 of a good hot-bed. 



But the cold frame is generally used without artificial heat. Seeds 

 may be sown in the soil-floor of the frame or they may be sown in 

 flats or in seed boxes for ease in taking up for planting out. Seedlings 

 from hot-beds are often transplanted into cold frames for hardening- 

 off before planting in the open. Care must always be had not to 

 allow too much sun-heat even in a cold frame and partial removal of 

 the covering during the heat of the day is usually desirable. The 

 substitution of a lath cover for the glass or cloth is a good recourse 

 as the season advances. By giving spaces equal to the width of the 

 lath, a half-shade is secured. 



Cold frames, Fig. 3, are often used in great area for growing 

 vegetables or flowers out of season and in that case boards are held 

 in place by stakes. Such frames are easily placed over perennials as 



