THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS 163 



provided with a handle. This frame is placed with the small 

 end down at the point where the seeds are to be planted, and 

 the earth is hilled up about it and firmly packed with the feet. 

 The mold is then withdrawn, and a pane of glass is laid upon the 

 top of the mound to concentrate the sun's rays, and to prevent 

 the bank from washing down with the rains. A clod of earth 

 or a stone may be placed upon the pane to hold it down. 

 Sometimes a brick is used as a mold. This type of forcing-hill 

 is not much used, because the bank of earth is liable to be washed 

 away, and heavy rain coming when the glass is off will fill the 

 hill with water and drown the plant. However, it can be used 

 to very good advantage when the gar- 

 dener can give it close attention. 



A forcing-hill is sometimes made by 

 digging a hole in the ground and plant- 

 ing the seeds in the bottom of it, plac- 

 ing the pane of glass upon a slight ridge 

 or mound which is made on the sur- ^^^- Hand-box. 



face of the ground. This method is less desirable than the 

 other, because the seeds are placed in the poorest and coldest 

 soil, and the hole is very likely to fill with water in the early 

 days of spring. 



An excellent type of forcing-hill is made by the use of the 

 hand-box, as shown in Fig. 192. This is a rectangular box, 

 without top or bottom, and a pane of glass is slipped into a groove 

 at the top. It is really a miniature coldframe. The earth is 

 banked up slightly about the box, in order to hold it against 

 winds and to prevent the water from running into it. If these 

 boxes are made of good lumber and painted, they will last for 

 many years. Any size of glass may be used which is desired, 

 but a ten-by-twelve pane is as good as any for general purposes. 



After the plants are thoroughly established in these forcing- 

 hills, and the weather is settled, the protection is wholly removed, 

 and the plants grow normally in the open. 



