Coldframes for Wintering Plants 197 



the sashes can be tilted so that the angle of elevation is in the same direction 

 that the wind is blowing. During fine days in winter, when the sun is shining 

 and there is not more than two or three degrees of frost, alternate sashes 

 may be removed. When this is done several days in succession, be sure 

 that the sashes thus removed and placed on top of the next ones are alternated,, 

 so as not to have the same plants covered each day with the double sash. 

 During the fine days of late winter and early spring the sashes should be 

 removed entirely, piling them at the end of the frame. 



Should the soil become dry at any time, so as to impede growth, then 

 water, but this is not likely to happen during the winter months, and rarely 

 even in the spring. 



Many of these details may seem superfluous, but it is only by close 

 attention to details that success can be achieved. 



IV. Inexpensive Pits for the South 

 By Laura Jones 



We who live in the southern or south central States can keep our pets 

 through the winter months with much less trouble and expense than our 

 northern neighbours. Pits are inexpensive, and in this latitude most plants 

 can be kept in them without any artificial heat. In my own I gather tea- 

 rose buds, sweet violets, primroses, geraniums, callas, carnations, abutilons, 

 heliotropes, and a variety of greenhouse flowers at all months of the winter, 

 and here I start greenhouse seeds and all of my summer-flowering bulbs. 



One of the most important requirements of a pit is perfect drainage. 

 An imperfectly drained pit will give the florist much more trouble than 

 pleasure, for during heavy rains the water will often rise, causing too much 

 moisture for many a choice plant. If drainage pipe is used, it should be 

 placed in one comer, and the floor should slope from all sides to the pipe, 

 so there will be no small pools of water in any part of the pit. In my own, 

 the drainage pipe extends for about six feet from the pit, and is covered to 

 about four feet with earth and sod. During severely cold weather, when 

 the air cannot be permitted to enter at any other point, this serves as a 

 ventilator, for the air is thoroughly warmed by the time it reaches the pit. 

 One end of the pipe shouM be covered with finely woven wire netting or 

 small iron grate, to prevent the entrance of rats or rabbits. 



