HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES 59 



useful article may be made on the lines suggested for the 

 frame which covers the hotbed but, in such a case the 

 long legs which project into the mound of manure should 

 be cut short at the edge of the side planks. Personally, 

 we have derived much service from an old window sash 

 light reposing on a large shallow box which has had the 

 top and bottom removed. Other such makeshifts may 

 be readily constructed by the ingenious reader. In 

 winter it is well to run a low wooden wall all around the 

 improvised frame, a foot away from it. The intervening 

 space is filled in with ashes or compressed leaves. This 

 arrangement will help to keep out frosts and provide 

 much more genial quarters for the growing crops. 



Such a frame will help to rear a multitude of young 

 plants at almost any time of the year. It will prove 

 invaluable for hardening off the seedlings in spring, and 

 will serve a useful purpose for completing the growth 

 of all sorts of things that cannot be pushed on to maturity 

 in the open, before the bleak weather sets in, in the late 

 autumn. 



Take autumn lettuces, for instance ; a good crop of 

 them may have been grown in the open but, at the end 

 of the season, there are about two dozen stray plants 

 scattered about the bed. They are not sufficiently 

 developed for table purposes and if left to their own 

 devices will be speedily killed off. Lift them with a good 

 ball of soil enveloping each root and plant in the frame, 

 allowing plenty of elbow room. Give air daily and 

 water frequently. A nice little supply of matured 

 specimens will be available later. 



Perhaps you have some cauliflower seedlings which are 

 deteriorating owing to the autumn gales. Do not place 



