140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fei!. 



also allows the sash to be tilted up, as 

 shown in the engraving. We tilt them up 

 to get out or put in plants, or give them 

 \vatcr. AVhen you have much sunshine, the 

 beds will get very dry, and they must be 

 watered, either with a sprinkler or a foun- 

 tain pump ; or you can pour water on. by 

 being careful so as not to wash the plants 

 Qut of place. However you do it, wait until 

 they begin to show they are neediug w^ater, 

 aiul tlien give the beds a good soaking. The 

 very best way in the world is to take the 

 sash off whenever there comes a rain. 

 AVhenever it is raining in the winter, and 

 not freezing, the sash ought to be off. It is, 

 however, less trouble to water the plants by 

 hand, many times, tluui to take off the sash. 

 AVe were annoyed last fall by the cats get- 

 ting in nights, when the end-boards were 

 left open, and scratching in the soft mellow 

 earth. AVe stopped this, liowever, by cover- 

 ing the gable ends with poultry-netting, put 

 on in sucli a way tliat the doors could be 

 opened and closed without trouble. 



Perhaps you may. want to know what ad- 

 vantage cold - frame plants possess over 

 plants raised in the house or in the green- 

 house. As a rule, they are mucli stronger 

 and hardier. As an illustration, we are to- 

 day, Feb. 10, planting cold-frame cabbage 

 and lettuce in the open grouiul. Tliey have 

 been greatly hardened, until they will stand 

 almost zero weather without being injured in 

 the least; whereas a plant ra' si din the green- 

 house, Avithout this hardening process, 

 would be killed out with a freeze of 15 or 20 

 degrees. Plants may be raised in the green- 

 house in February, and hardened by opening 

 the cold frame, and exposing ttiem gradually. 



Now, it may occur to you that the cold 

 frame just described could be very easily 

 made into a very pretty little greenhouse. 

 So it can, and our first greenlTouse was made 

 in that way. Just build the structure so 

 one end conies up against a C3llar window to 

 your dwelling-house, and yon have it. Cut 

 the window down low enough so it will do 

 for a door, then make a ditch or trench 

 through the center of the building, 18 inches 

 wide and about 3 feet deep. You can then 

 walk easily under the ridge-pole, and you 

 will have beds about the right width. If 

 your walk is two feet wide it will be handier 

 to get by another person, bnt it wastes your 

 precious ground inside of the glass structure. 

 Now, if you want to make the plants grow 

 all winter you will need a little tire heat. 

 The way we did it was by having a, large bar- 

 vel of water at the end of the cold frame, op- 



p;)site the door. A steam-pipe went up one 

 side of the path to the barrel of water, and 

 down the other. When a cold night conu s, 

 heat the water in the barrel, by means of the 

 steam-pipe, up to about the boiling-point, 

 and it will keep your greenhouse free from 

 frost all night. The evaporation of water 

 from the barrel soon coats the inside of the 

 sash with half an iiich or more of frost, and 

 this frost also closes all cracks atul crevices 

 with ice, so as to make the room airtight 

 during a severe freeze. You can have the 

 surface of the ground for your beds, or you 

 can have boxes, such as I pictured in Chap- 

 ter VIII. The boxes are handier, because 

 you can carry them with the plants right 

 where you want to put the plants out. But, 

 suppose your business demands a larger 

 greenhouse than this cold-frame arrange- 

 ment. AVell, you can make it longer, or 

 place another, just like it, right by its side. 

 The latter plan has been the one advised 

 until within a few years. Peter Henderson, 

 however, of late uses a structure something 

 like the figure shown below. 



MENDEKSOM S NEW METHOD (»F BUILUINO CKEE.V- 

 HOUSES. 



This building has one long side of sash, 

 facing the south, as you will notice. This 

 long side is about three times the width of 

 the sash, on the north side. For instance, if 

 you use six-f t. sash on the north side, you will 

 want rafters about IS feet long on the south. 

 This makes the north wall a good deal high- 

 er than the south wall. One would natural- 

 ly suppose that these walls should be made 

 of brick or stone ; but Mr. Henderson states, 

 and I think he is right, that a wall made of 

 cedar posts, covered with rough boards, so 

 as to inclose an air-space, is more effective 

 and more substantial lliaii bi ick or stone. 

 To make it still more impervions to frost, 

 there should be a tight covering of common 

 tarred building - paper between the two 

 board walls. AVe use matched ceiling for 

 the inside, and drop-siding for the outside ; 

 tack building-paper on to the studding be- 

 fore the siding is put on. AA^here the bnild- 



