SETBACKS 69 



of several days and the whole of several even- 

 ings in the furnace-room of the cellar, pounding 

 and hammering the parts together and screwing 

 on glass covers with hinges. 



I made three of these beds, and having ar- 

 ranged suitable sites for them on the south side 

 of the barn, secured Mike as chief motive- power, 

 and started to hoist them out. Then it was that 

 I found the cellar door was several inches too 

 narrow to allow them to pass through, which- 

 ever way I turned them. So I was forced to take 

 them apart and reunite their component parts on 

 the outside. This took so much time that it was 

 not until two days later that I had them in place. 



I had been told that greenhouse or conserva- 

 tory compost would make excellent growing soil, 

 and so I imported a few loads at considerable ex- 

 pense from a neighboring florist, procured seed, 

 and sowed, as I was afterwards informed, enough 

 seed to furnish a market-garden of an hundred 

 acres. It was a most delightful pastime, and in 

 an astonishingly short time the tiny garden- 

 shoots of thousands of young plants were peeping 

 above the soil. 



It was delightful to see how warm and com- 

 fortable it was inside that frame. Indeed, it was 

 necessary to raise the tops during the sunny days, 

 to avoid burning the plants. And I could almost 

 see them grow from hour to hour. 



