HOTBEDS AND COLD-FRAMES 55 



the plants are to be taken to the field, the sash and 

 guides can be easily removed. (Fig. 15.) 



Ground to be covered with cold-frames should be 

 made very friable and rich by repeated plowing and 

 working in of a libe'ral dressing of well-rotted stable 

 manure and wood ashes. In southwestern New Jer- 

 sey, where immense areas of early tomatoes are grown, 

 the soil of the beds for a depth of about 6 inches is 

 removed and a layer 3 to 5 inches deep of well-rotted 

 stable manure is placed in. That made of a mixture 

 of manure from horses, cattle and hogs is preferred. 

 It is important that the manure be so well rotted that 

 it will not heat, and so dry that it wall not become 

 pasty when tramped into a firm, level layer. On this 

 they place a layer of nearly 3 inches deep, of rich, 

 friable, moderately compact soil and prick out the 

 plants into this. The roots soon bind the manure and 

 soil together and by cutting through the manure so as 

 to form blocks one can carry the plants to the fields 

 with but very little disturbance of the root. 



Cloth covers for beds should be made of heavy, un- 

 bleached sheeting or light duck, and it is better that 

 the selvage run up and down the bed rather than 

 lengthwise. The cloth is torn into lengths of about 

 13 feet and then sewn together with a narrow double- 

 stitched flat seam so as to form a sheet 13 feet wide 

 and about 8 inches longer than the bed. The edges are 

 tacked every foot to the strips about 2 inches wide by 

 '^i inch thick with beveled outside edges and laid per- 

 fectly in line. A second line of strips is then nailed 

 to the first so as to break joints with it and so that the 

 two will form a continuous roller about a foot longer 



